The Power of Green
by SSBFreak
Summary: When Daisy is targeted by a new enemy, Luigi and a team must save her without Mario's help. (FINSHED!)
1. Intro

**Chapter one: Intro**

**(Mushroom Kingdom Outskirts)**

Sunlight tore across the Mushroom Kingdom, awakening everyone to a new day. Throughout the kingdom, toads were leaving their houses to either do outdoor work or just to take a walk.

One particular toad, conveniently named 'Toad', walked from a castle, through the pathways of Toad Town, a large town built around the castle. The princess of the kingdom, Peach, was giving her attendants, retainers and guards more time off lately. Recently, a portly plumber named Mario had finally destroyed the king of Koopas, King Bowser, saving the princess and the whole kingdom. Since Bowser's destruction, Peach had felt safer. Nothing had happened for almost half a year now. Recently, Mario had taken Peach on a vacation, and had been gone for almost a whole week. The princess left the kingdom in charge of several of her best attendants and retainers so everyone could get along while she was gone. So far, everything was working out.

Toad brought himself out of his thoughts when he noticed the edge of Toad Town approaching, which was what he wanted. The small mushroom walked through the gates and into the fields beyond.

Not too far away from Toad Town was a huge mansion almost as big as Peach's castle. That was Toad's destination. The mansion belonged to Luigi, Mario's little brother. Not too long ago, Luigi had saved Mario from a pack of Boos in a haunted mansion. After the haunted mansion vanished into thin air, Luigi used the money he had found inside it to build his own mansion, which looked a hundred times better than the haunted one. A white mansion with green trim everywhere, complete with a giant L at the top, Luigi's mansion was truly a sight to behold. While it was big, the only ones living in it so far were Luigi and E. Gadd, a professor Luigi had met on that particular adventure.

Toad walked up to the front door of the mansion and hit his small fist against it several times. Toad waited patiently until the door was answered. Toad looked up to see the short, old man Luigi had befriended, Prof. E. Gadd. Sure, the odd professor was short, but Toad was certainly shorter.

Seeing the small mushroom, Gadd smiled. "Ah, Toad! How nice to see you!" He said. "Do come in!"

"Thank you, professor." Toad said as he walked into the mansion. "Is Luigi around?"

The inside of the mansion looked even better than the outside. Luigi, being the tidy guy he is, made sure he cleaned the house at least once a week, so everything always looked as good as new. Toad quickly spotted Luigi dusting a mantle while humming a cheerful tune.

"Greetings, Luigi." Toad said, getting Luigi's attention.

"Oh, hi Toad!" Luigi said as he got down from the stepladder he was standing on. "What brings you out here?"

"Toad Town is having a party tonight." Toad explained. "We'd like you and professor Gadd to come."

Luigi raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Really? Who else is going?" He asked.

"Oh, the usual. The Yoshies, Goombario's family, the penguins of Shiver City, Kolorado and his wife, Queen Bean, Mallow and his parents, the sibling princesses of Monstro Land..." Toad started.

Luigi cut the retainer off at the mention of the latter titles. "The princesses of Monstro Land? Plum and Maple? I haven't heard from them in years." He mused, eyes slightly widened. "I wonder what they've been up to since the old golf tournament..."

Toad continued with his list. "Lady Bow, Kooper and co., Moustafa, Johnny Jones, Birdo, DK and the Kongs..." He paused to look up at Luigi. "And Daisy."

Luigi's eyes widened. "Daisy?" He asked. "Okay. I'll be there. What time does it start?"

"Around seven." Toad replied.

Luigi nodded, then looked at Prof. Gadd. "You coming, professor?" He asked.

Gadd nodded. "Sure. It could be fun."

**(Unknown Location)**

Several shadowed figures stood around a small device, which was producing a fog-like substance. The device suddenly produced a hologram, showing the face of a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair.

"That's the one." A big, deep-voiced figure, obviously the leader, said he looked at the picture. "She's the one we need."

"But that's the girlfriend of that green plunger-faced plumber." A second, younger figure observed. "Isn't there another one we could use?"

"I'm afraid not." The leader replied. "She's the only one we can use."

"I wouldn't worry about that." The shortest of the figures said. "He doesn't look too tough."

"You'd be surprised." A round figured stated as he turned to the short figure. "He packs quite a punch."

A tall, thin figure laughed. "Worried I am not! Beat him we shall!" He said.

A small, floating figure beside him chuckled. "Let's play with his mind! Let him know what we're up to!"

A figure the same height as Mario looked up at the floating creature. "Why would we do that, man?" He asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't make sense." A figure with big ears added.

"Why not? It sounds fun!" The floating figure laughed.

No one else really thought that was such a good idea, but they didn't have a better plan.

"Very well." The leader said. "Luigi Mario will rue the day that he messed with us! Come, my friends. Join me in my moment of extreme and insane laughter!"

Everyone standing around the device in the middle of the room agreed with the leader and they all started laughing insanely.

**(Later that Night…)**

Later that night, Luigi and Prof. Gadd entered the gates of Toad Town, walking into the large town. Surprisingly, there wasn't anyone anywhere.

"Everyone must be at the castle." Luigi observed.

"That seems to be the case." Gadd replied. "Let's go see."

Luigi agreed as the duo walked through the empty pathways of Toad Town, towards the castle. Even the town dojo was empty for once. The dojo was a place for anyone to go and train to test their strength. Toad had even tried out himself. He got as far as defeating the Master two apprentices, but met defeat at the Master himself.

Luigi and Prof. Gadd soon got to their destination: the castle. Granted, the castle was bigger and batter looking than his mansion, but Luigi sure didn't want to live there. Judging by the lights coming out of the windows and the really loud music coming from inside, Luigi guessed that the party had already started.

The duo quickly arrived at the castle doors and went in. They quickly noticed that the castle was packed with the town residents and guests. Luigi wondered how Toad got Peach's permission to have a party while she was away. And Toad was too loyal to have one without consulting with the princess first. He figured that Toad asked before Peach left and received her permission.

Luigi was quickly noticed and was instantly greeted by several mushroom people and a few of the guests. Suddenly, something caught his eye: Someone sitting at a DJ table that was obviously placed on a low balcony for the party. What grabbed his attention was the old and wrinkled ape with a long beard standing behind it, scratching the records and bobbing his head back and forth.

Luigi shook his head. _"That Cranky."_ He thought. _"His love for that rock music will probably end up killing him."_

Suddenly, Luigi noticed a person that was infinitely more interesting than an old ape at a DJ table: A beautiful, brown-haired woman dressed in a floor-length, yellow dress, which seemed to sparkle underneath the lights. Luigi smirked as he walked over to his girlfriend. Daisy saw him coming and returned the smile.

"Hey, Luigi!" Daisy greeted, having to shout over Cranky's loud music.

"Hey, Daisy!" Luigi replied. "How's the party been coming along?"

"Great! That old man has surprisingly good music!" The princess replied back.

Luigi chuckled. In the meantime, a toad wearing shades and a gold necklace around his neck walked up beside Cranky and grabbed a microphone. Cranky reluctantly quieted his music down.

"Yo, yo, yo! Whazzup, dudes?" Funk E. Toad said into the microphone. "This party has been totally awesome the whole time, but it's about to get better!" He looked out over the crowd below the balcony. "It's time for the couples dancing competition! Time to strut your stuff while dancing with a partner! Now, will the competitors please step into the middle of the room?"

Daisy quickly turned to Luigi. "Come on, Luigi!" She whispered. "Let's dance!"

Luigi smirked. "Sure. This competition sounds like fun."

As Luigi and Daisy walked towards the middle of the room, where the rest of the crowd had backed away from so there would be room, they saw the rest of the competitors: Toad and Toadette, DK and Candy, Yoshi and Birdo, and even Goombario and Goombaria. The goombas may have been siblings, but the couples competition was open to any couple.

The competition started, and the five pairs were keeping up with Cranky's music easily. However, as the competition went on, the couples started tiring. DK and Candy were the first to stop. DK just couldn't keep up and, with his big feet, kept stepping on Candy's feet. Yoshi and Birdo fell next. Birdo certainly didn't have as quick feet on the dance floor as Yoshi did, and she eventually lost the beat of the song.

Not too long after that, Luigi and Daisy ended up stopping as well. They were doing excellent, but the others were so small that they had more energy. The contest ended once Goombario and Goombaria stopped as well. No one knew why. Maybe it was because they weren't as experienced in dancing as Toad and Toadette were. Everyone clapped for the mushroom pair as they were handed the award.

**(Later…)**

Eventually, the party ended at around ten o'clock. Everyone had piled out of the castle to start their treks back to their respective homes. Warp Pipes were scattered around Toad Town, granting access to most of the places where everyone lived. The only place without a Warp Pipe was DK Isles, but luckily, Funky Kong had brought a big enough plane for the rest of the Kongs.

E. Gadd, feeling tired, had left ahead of Luigi to head back to the mansion to get some sleep. Luigi had decided to hang around and find people to talk to. As he was talking to Toad and Kooper, he saw Daisy walk by. Luigi turned to the toad and koopa and bid them farewell. He turned around and started running slowly to catch up with Daisy. He quickly caught up with her, and Daisy had noticed. She turned to the green-clad man and smiled. Luigi returned the smile, but neither of them stopped walking.

"So, where're you off to?" Luigi asked.

"The Warp Pipe that leads back home." Daisy said. "By the time I arrive, it'll be pretty late."

"Yeah. I should be heading back soon myself." Luigi added. He quickly changed the subject. "How'd you like the party?"

"It was great!" Daisy replied. "And even though we didn't win, the dance competition was fun."

"Yeah. I gotta admit, Toad and Toadette are better dancers than I thought."

Suddenly, the lovers heard quick footsteps coming from behind. Luigi looked to his right and saw DK running past them with Cranky on his shoulders. The elder ape was waving hi arms and shouting a his son for him to slow down. Following shortly after was Chunky carrying Cranky's DJ table and huge speakers.

Daisy shook her head as she watched the three Kongs go by. "Those Kongs are good people but they sure are weird sometimes." Luigi replied with a nod.

The pair walked through the streets of Toad Town, towards the Warp Pipe that led to Daisy's kingdom. During the walk, they had enjoyed each others company with a long conversation. Eventually, much to their disappointment, they arrived at a green Warp Pipe sticking out of the ground with a sign hanging nearby.

"Well, thank you for walking me here, Luigi." Daisy said with a smile. "You're very kind."

Luigi blushed. "No problem, Daisy. I'd do anything for you."

It was Daisy's turn to blush. However, she didn't drop her smile. "Thank you, Luigi."

Daisy planted a quick kiss of Luigi's cheek. "Goodbye, Luigi." Daisy said as she turned around, slowly walked up to the pipe and jumped in, vanishing from sight.

Luigi sighed as he stared at the pipe where Daisy had gone into. He was about to turn around and leave himself when he heard something that caught his attention: the sound of something being fired from a bow. Something suddenly zoomed past Luigi and buried itself in the Warp Pipe. Luigi quickly saw that it was an arrow.

Curiously, Luigi walked over to the arrow and pulled it from the pipe. He quickly noticed a small note attached to the arrow. Unrolling the piece of paper, Luigi read what was written on it. However, once he did, his mouth went dry and his eyes bulged.

_We will soon have her. Don't try to stop us._

**(The Next Day…)**

The next morning came. Luigi came home late the night before, and had wanted to show the note to E. Gadd. Unfortunately, the professor was asleep, and Luigi knew better than to wake the old man up (having learned that the hard way long ago). Currently, the plumber and professor were looking over the note, worried expressions on their faces.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Gadd said as he read the note. "Why would they want Daisy?"

"I don't know." Luigi replied. "But I intend to do something about it before they take her!"

"How would you do that, Luigi?" Gadd asked. "Not only do we have no clue who's after her but we don't know where they're hiding!"

Luigi was silent. He hadn't thought about that. Then again, this was Daisy they were talking about. Luigi said himself that he would do anything for her.

"I don't know, but I don't care either!" Luigi replied. "I'm willing to do anything for Daisy, and that includes finding out where her future kidnappers are hiding out!"

Gadd smirked as he looked up at Luigi. "My boy, that was exactly what I wanted to hear." He said. "Follow me to my workshop, Luigi."

Luigi curiously followed the old scientist through the mansion and down to the basement where Gadd had set up his workshop where he built all his gadgets. Gadd opened the door to his workshop and went in, followed by Luigi. As soon as the green plumber entered the door, he froze in his tracks and his mouth fell open at the new gadget inside the room. In the middle of the large workshop sat a huge machine that looked similar to the portrait machine from his adventure with the haunted mansion.

"Doc, how much spare time have you had recently?" Luigi asked.

Gadd chuckled. "It didn't take mw THAT long to build it, Luigi." He laughed. "Behold, my latest invention! The Restorer!"

"The Restorer? What's it do?" Luigi asked.

"Luigi, you'll need help on this adventure. This machine turns ghost portraits not only back into their former state, but brings them back to life as well!" Gadd explained.

"Really? That's amazing!" Luigi said in astonishment.

"Yes. It IS, isn't?" Gadd said proudly. "Anyway, if we bring the right ghost back from your haunted mansion incident, he or she might help you in your quest! Unfortunately, the machine currently only has enough power to do one portrait, so we have to choose carefully."

Luigi scratched his chin, wondering what ghost would be a good choice. He'd have to pick a ghost that would cooperate. That eliminated Bogmire and the Boos. He quickly came to a decision.

"Let's do Biff Atlas." Luigi suggested. "His strength might come in handy."

Gadd nodded. "Quite. Okay. Let's give it a try."

The short scientist walked over to the control panel on the end of the machine. He pressed a few buttons and flipped a switch, causing a crane to go out into the other room where all the portraits were being hung.

Luigi watched Gadd press some more buttons as he heard the crane grab something in the gallery. Luigi watched the crane come in with a painting, but when he saw what painting it was, his eyes widened. He quickly turned to Gadd. "Um...Professor? That's not Biff."

Hearing Luigi, Gadd quickly looked at the crane as it moved the painting towards a slot to drop it in. Like Luigi, Gadd's eyes sprang open.

"Oh, no! That's the wrong picture!" Gadd cried as he went back to the control panel and furiously started pressing buttons. Unfortunately, he was too late, as the crane had already dropped the painting into the slot.

Luigi could do nothing but watch as the painting of Melody Pianissima sank into the machine…


	2. Gathering

**Chapter two: Gathering**

**(Luigi's Mansion)**

The Restorer machine started working as soon as Melody's picture was sent into it. Luigi knew that they could do nothing now, so he decided to follow a bulge in the pipe going from the slot area to a windowed tank.

As E. Gadd continued working with the control panel, Luigi looked through the window, into the tank. His eyes widened when he saw a lone, blue, unconscious figure in a red nightgown floating inside. The ghost's flowing blonde hair revealed her as Melody. Suddenly, Melody started spinning around, the natural pink colour returning to her face and hands, replacing the pale blue Luigi remembered her having.

The machine made a funny noise as Melody vanished from the tank. Luigi saw that something was moving inside a pipe as it tore towards the end of the machine, which was another tank, this time with a door on it. The object in the pipe was sent into the other tank, causing dust to shoot from the slots on the door.

Luigi and Prof. Gadd were silent, staring at the tank, wondering if the machine had worked. Suddenly, the door burst open, and a figure was sent flying from the machine, through the air, screaming. The female figure landed on the ground, rolling on her side until she hit the wall.

Luigi looked at the girl that had emerged from the machine. Just by looking at the familiar red nightgown and the long, blonde hair told Luigi that it was Melody, but what was different about her was that her face was no longer blue, but pink. Her eyes were bright blue, and he saw that she had a pair of feet wearing fuzzy slippers, only one of the slippers had been tossed aside as she was rolling along the ground.

Luigi grinned as he turned to the short, elderly professor still standing behind the controls. "It worked! Professor, it actually worked!" He said.

E. Gadd sighed. "I'm glad about that, but it's not the person we were hoping for." He replied.

Luigi pondered for a few seconds. "How long until we can use the machine again?" He asked.

The vertically challenged professor shook his head. "Not for a long time, Luigi." He replied. "I've spent so much effort trying to prevent Melody's picture from being put into the machine that it's overheated."

Luigi sighed as he turned to look at Melody, who was shaking her head back and forth to regain her senses. "Well, maybe she can help us." He suggested as he walked over to her.

The green-clad man stood over Melody, who was still sitting against the wall. When she finally regained her senses, Melody looked up and found herself staring at the man who had imprisoned her a while ago. She blinked three times...

And screamed.

"IT'S YOU!" Melody shouted in horror, trying to back away further.

Luigi nodded. "Yeah, it's me. But I think you should thank the professor and I."

"W-Why?" Melody demanded.

Luigi held out his hand. "Here, let me help you up." He offered.

Although hesitant, Melody placed her hand on top of Luigi's. However, she saw her hand, causing her eyes to spring open in shock. She was too wrapped up in her hand to notice Luigi helping her to her feet. When she was on her feet, Melody continued looking at her hand.

"My hand...It's not blue." Melody said in astonishment. "My fingernails are back."

Slowly, Melody felt her face, feeling that she had normal skin again. Looking down, melody saw one slipper and one foot sticking out from under her gown.

"I...I'm human again!" She cried.

Looking up, she saw Luigi and E. Gadd. She looked from one to the other, a questioning look on her face. "You brought me back. Why?"

Luigi filled melody in on everything, such as why he imprisoned her and the rest of her family in the first place. He continued by saying how he got his new mansion that so happened to be in the exact same spot where Melody had lived before she had become a ghost. He finished when he said why he had brought her back.

"So you're telling me that you need help saving your girlfriend from a pack of evil beings?" Melody asked.

Luigi nodded. "Yes. Are you willing to help me?"

Melody paused. "Well, I don't know. I mean, you turned me into a painting." She replied. "But…I'd LIKE to help someone as popular as you considering I'm a bit of a fan."

Luigi's eyes widened. "You know about me?"

Melody nodded. "Even as a ghost, I followed every last one of you and Mario's adventures! When you entered the mansion a while back, I was so excited that I'd actually be able to meet you, but that creep King Boo ordered me to attack you." She explained.

Luigi nodded in understanding. "Was anyone else in your family not too keen on fighting me?" He asked.

"Well, Biff, Slim and Shivers for sure. I'm pretty sure Sir Weston didn't want to fight either, but from what I heard, you started a fire in the cold storage."

Luigi nodded, somewhat feeling sheepish about doing that. There was nothing more strange that having a ghost like Sir Weston scold him for starting a fire.

"Hey, I'd love to go, but I can't help you dressed like this." Melody explained. "I'll need to buy a new wardrobe."

Luigi nodded. "I have a spare outfit in the laundry area. You can change into that, then we'll go to Toad Town to get you a new outfit."

After receiving directions, Melody nodded and rushed off. Luigi turned around and saw E. Gadd staring at him strangely. "What?" Luigi asked.

"How do you think she'd be able to help us?" The professor asked.

Luigi smirked. "I've got something that Mario once used that she could use and could prove helpful."

**(Mushroom Kingdom)**

Soon, Luigi and Prof. Gadd were walking through Toad Town with Melody. She felt a little strange walking around in a green shirt and blue overalls, but she didn't say anything. Several of the town residents asked who Melody was or where she came from. Melody simply replied that she was new in the area. Soon, Luigi and the professor led her to the fashion store. Luigi gave her a couple hundred coins to get a new outfit with, and said that he and the professor would wait outside for her to come back out.

The plumber and professor waited outside the store for a good fifteen minutes until Melody emerged from the store, clutching a bag in her hand.

"Thanks for giving me the money for my new outfit, Mr. Luigi." Melody said.

"No problem." Luigi replied.

"Well, where to now?" E. Gadd asked.

"We need some more help." Luigi replied. He was silent for a few seconds. "We might need one of the mushroom soldiers to help, but there's only one that I can think of that would be willing to help us at all."

"Who?" Melody asked.

"I'll tell you later. For now, we'll look around and see if there's anyone else we could recruit. It'll give Melody a tour of the town at the same time." Luigi explained.

E. Gadd and Melody agreed as they walked off. The three walked past the post office and continued going down, Luigi explaining to Melody what and where everything was. Soon, they had walked into an area of Toad Town that had a lot of houses. Luigi looked around. A lot of the residents were walking around and talking, but something unusual caught his eye: A yellow, male Shyguy sitting on the grass, looking depressed.

"I wonder what's going on over there with the kid." Luigi wondered as he, E. Gadd and Melody walked over to where the Shyguy was.

"What seems to be the problem?" Luigi asked the shyguy. "You look down."

The shyguy sighed. "I just got thrown out of Shyguy's Toybox." He explained. "It's because I tend to inadvertently cause damage wherever I go."

"Um…You don't MEAN to, right?"

"Of course not! I can't help it!" The shyguy said. "I was born with super strength! I punch something ONCE and it crumbles to dust!"

Luigi suddenly felt sorry for the poor guy. Thrown out of his home at such a young age because he accidentally caused collateral damage. He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt the professor tugging at his sleeve. Luigi looked down at the elder man.

"He's got strength, Luigi." E. Gadd said. "Maybe he can help us, taking Biff's place."

Luigi pondered this for a little bit until deciding that it was a good idea. He walked over to the young Shyguy and tapped on his shoulder lightly.

"O-Oh! A-Aren't you Luigi?" The Shyguy asked.

Luigi nodded. "What's your name, boy?" He asked.

The Shyguy sniffed. "Sonar."

"I believe you're doing nothing on purpose." Luigi replied. "Listen, I know of a way you can show those Shyguys what you're made of."

Sonar looked up, listening intently. "Y-You do?" He asked.

Lugii nodded. "Why not help my team and I on this adventure?" He asked. "I could use a little muscle."

Sonar continued staring, but Luigi would bet that he was brightening beyond belief. "Really?" He finally asked. "You'd take me along?"

"That's if you want to." Luigi replied. "If you don't want to, that's fine."

"Oh, no! I WANT to come along!" Sonar replied, leaping onto his feet.

Luigi smiled. "Great. Welcome aboard, Sonar." Luigi stood up straight, looking down at Sonar. "You'd better come with us. We need to get going."

Sonar nodded as he followed Luigi over to E. Gadd and Melody.

"So, Luigi." Melody said. "Who's this guard you want to recruit?"

**(Forever Forest Guard Post)**

"N-N-NO WAY!" Fice T shouted, waving his arms. "Me? Go with you guys? S-Sorry Luigi, but I'm NOT going!"

"Why not?" Luigi asked. "It would be a great chance to overcome your fears."

"T-They're not fears!" The mushroom guard said nervously. "They're just dislikes!"

"Hey, I'm afraid of ghosts, too." Luigi replied with a shrug. "And I'm LEADING this adventure."

Fice T bit his lip, trying to come up with a reasonable reply. "W-Why me?"

"Because I know that you're the only guard willing to leave his post." Luigi replied simply.

Fice T was silent for a few seconds before hanging his head, knowing that Luigi had him there. "Well, could you at least tell me what this adventure is all about?" He asked.

"Daisy's in danger." Luigi explained. "I got a note from a group of evil beings, saying that they would soon have her. I need to find out why they want her, and I know that I can't do it alone."

"W-Why can't you get Mario?" Fice T quickly asked.

"While he's vacationing in Hyrule?" Luigi asked flatly.

Fice T fell silent, staring off into space, a scared look in his eyes. It was as if he couldn't think of a way out of this, and he'd have to go along after all.

"Think of it this way. What if Peach found out that one of her guards helped save her cousin?" Luigi asked.

Fice T stood in silence, his face suddenly softening and losing it's fear.

"Okay!" Fice T said. "I'll come! I'll come!"

Luigi smirked as he turned to Melody. "I knew that would get him."

Melody replied with a snicker.

**(Goomba Village)**

"What're we doing here?" Sonar asked as he looked around the two-building area they appeared in. The group had come from a Warp Pipe. Fice T was the last one out, falling out of the pipe, landing on his back.

"There's someone here that I want help from." Luigi replied as he walked over to the bigger house.

Luigi gently knocked on the door, knowing that a pair of elderly folk also lived in the house.

A middle-aged Goomba with a mustache appeared at the door and looked up. Instantly, his face opened into a smile. "Luigi! Fancy seeing you all the way out here!" Goompapa greeted. "How's everything going?"

Luigi shook his head. "Not good as of lately." Luigi replied. "I've got to go on an adventure without Mario's help, and I'm wondering if Goombario can tag along."

Goompapa's face fell. "I'm sorry, Luigi." He replied. "Goombario just left for Goomba Camp." Seeing Luigi's face fall, he continued. "May I ask what this adventure is all about?"

As quickly as he could, Luigi filled Goompapa in on what was going on. Hen he was finished, Goompapa looked like he was in deep thought. "Daisy's in trouble, eh?" He said finally. "Maybe I can help you after all. Just wait a moment."

With that, Goompapa disappeared into the house. Luigi waited for a moment until Goompapa came back to the door with a young, girl Goomba wearing a red bow and holding a doll of Princess Peach (how she was doing it with no hands Luigi still didn't know).

"Luigi, I'm sure you remember Goombaria." He said.

Luigi nodded. "Yes. She and Goombario came in second for that dancing competition last night." Suddenly, Luigi's eyes sprang open, realizing what Goompapa was getting at. "You mean-"

Goompapa interrupted with a nod. "Yes. Her headbonk has become almost as good as Goombario's."

"Daddy, what are you two talking about?" Goombaria asked.

Luigi looked down at Goombaria. "Goombaria, I'm going on an adventure to save Daisy." He replied. "I'll need some more help, so I was wondering if you wanted to come along."

Goombaria's eyes bulged, hearing Luigi's request. "Really? I can go on an adventure with one of the Mario brothers?" She asked excitedly.

"Not only that, but save the princess as well." Luigi replied.

Goombaria's eyes sparkled. "Really?" She asked. She turned to her father. "Can I, daddy?"

Goompapa smiled warmly and nodded. "Yes. You're going on your first adventure, and can have an incredible story to tell your brother when he gets back." He replied.

Goombaria lit up even more at the thought of Goombario's face when he found out she had gone on an adventure. She quickly looked up at Luigi and jumped up and down excitedly. "I'll go! I'll go!"

After saying a tearful goodbye to the rest of her family, Goombaria followed Luigi over to the rest of the team by the Warp Pipe.

"Six people." E. Gadd stated. "I think that's enough."

Luigi shook his head. "Actually, I've got one more person in mind, but somehow, I think I'm going to regret it."

**(Diamond City)**

"Are you out of your mind, shorty?" Waluigi demanded.

Luigi had told everyone that his final stop was the home of the Wario brothers. He knew for a fact that Waluigi could jump higher than he could, and decided that his skills would prove useful.

Hearing Waluigi, Luigi shook his head. "No, but I think I'm getting there." He said.

"Why would you want my help, of all people?" Waluigi asked.

"Because I know that you can jump higher than anyone else on my team." Luigi explained. "Your skills would prove very valuable."

Waluigi paused. "True..." He said. "But what's in it for me?"

"Think about it." Luigi replied. "Going on an adventure without Wario, trouncing the villains and most of all, helping to save Daisy."

Waluigi raised an eyebrow. "Did you say Daisy?" He asked. Truth be told, he actually had a crush on Daisy, but was always upset that she was Luigi's girlfriend. He figured that helping Luigi just this once might impress Daisy enough to notice him.

"Yes." Luigi said. "And as a bonus, I'll let you keep whatever you want that we find searching through the mastermind's base or castle, wherever that is."

Waluigi pondered for a little while longer until he looked at Luigi. "Okay. Count me in." He said. "We'll call it a truce for now."

Luigi smirked. "Great. My team is now complete. Let's get going. The rest of the gang's waiting at my mansion."

Waluigi's eyes bulged. "Since when did you get a mansion?"

**(Luigi's Mansion)**

E. Gadd, Melody, Sonar, Fice T, Goombaria and Waluigi stood in a room in the basement, listening to what Luigi had to say.

"Now, what do you guys impose we do? We have no clue where to start looking." Luigi said.

"Well, we could always search around just outside Toad Town." Goombaria suggested. "The first boss is usually around the starting point in video games."

Waluigi smacked his hand against his forehead.

"You know what? That's actually not a bad idea." Luigi replied.

"Wait a minute." E. Gadd said as he walked over to Luigi, made him bend over and whispered something into his ear.

Luigi's eyes widened. "Good grief! I forgot about that!" He said.

Turning around, Luigi charged back upstairs, leaving the rest of the team standing in silence.

Goombaria was the one who broke the silence, turning to Sonar. "Read any good books lately?"

A few minutes passed. Suddenly, Luigi came rushing back downstairs, clutching a pair of gloves.

"Melody," Luigi said, looking at the former ghost. "I've got something that you can use."

"Really?" Melody asked. "What is it?"

"Here. Catch." Luigi said, tossing the gloves at Melody, who caught them easily.

Melody stared at the gloves strangely. "What do these gloves do?"

"Mario used those on our last adventure." Luigi explained. "They're called the Firebrand."

"Yeah, but what do they do?" Melody asked as she slid the gloves on. As soon as they were on, Melody felt a strange energy going through her hands.

"They allow you to create fire." Luigi explained. He held up one of his hands, creating a small ball of electricity. "I have my own, only it creates lightning." He said. "Mario didn't want his Firebrand because he could already do that whenever he picked up a Fire Flower."

Melody stared at Luigi, wide eyed, until staring at her gloved hand. She concentrated on it, and quicker than she thought, a ball of fire lit up in her hand.

"Wow!" She said in awe. She clenched her hand, extinguishing the flame.

"Okay. We're all ready." Luigi explained. "Let's go!"


	3. Mouse in da House

**Chapter three: Mouse in da House**

**(Unknown Location)**

The leader of the evil gang trying to get Daisy sat in deep thought, pondering his next move. He had just heard that Luigi had put a team together to try and protect Daisy. He suddenly felt extremely lucky that he had several real strong villains on his side.

"Do you understand what you're to do?" The leader asked a figure in the shadows.

"Yeah." The big-eared figure replied. "I'm supposed to stop, and possibly kill Luigi and his team."

"Correct, but not just that. You know what you need to look for, don't you?" The leader asked.

The big-eared figure paused for a second before slowly nodding. "Yes. Are you sure it's where you say it is?"

"Positive."

The big-eared figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a giant gray mouse wearing black shades and white gloves. "Perfect. This'll be a snap!" Mouser laughed.

**(Luigi's Mansion)**

Luigi looked down at his professor friend. "Why can't you help us?" He asked.

Gadd shook his head. "An old man like me won't last very long on foot, my boy." He replied. "Don't worry. I'll be focusing on making a new machine that will allow me to help. I'll join you guys and soon as I can."

Luigi nodded as he and the rest of the team turned around and walked down the hill, leading away from the mansion.

Melody had changed into her new wardrobe before the team left. Dressed in a light blue sweater and dark blue pants with the brown shoes Luigi had given her, she felt ready to use her new Firebrand power on anything.

The team of Luigi, Melody, Sonar, Fice T, Goombaria and Waluigi walked through Mushroom Fields, going straight towards Toad Town. They weren't sure where to start looking, but they figured that they might get some info from the residents of the town.

After a bit of walking, the team arrived at Toad Town. Surprisingly, there weren't any guards at the gate.

"Something's going on." Luigi concluded, looking around. "The guards aren't here."

"Yeah." Fice T added. "And I've know these guards to never leave their post unless something serious was going on."

Curiously, the team walked inside Toad Town. Once inside, they saw that the streets were all deserted. No one was around. By now, even Waluigi was interested in finding out what was going on.

The team continued going to the town square in the middle of the town. That's when they noticed what seemed to be every citizen of Toad Town gathering around a giant clock. Luigi cocked an eyebrow, wondering what was going on, as everyone seemed to be panicking.

Luigi walked over to a mushroom person, which turned out to be the owner of the Item Shop. "What's going on?" He asked, getting the mushroom's attention.

The shop owner turned to see Luigi, although didn't drop his panicked state. "There's a thief on top of the clock, stealing the crystal stone on the face!" He cried.

Luigi and his team looked up, seeing a strange, yet familiar to Luigi, figure standing against the clock face, pulling a crystal stone, which was holding the two hands together, from the face. Suddenly, the figure looked down at the crowd, showing his face to Luigi and his team.

Luigi's eyes sprang open. "Mouser!" He said in shock.

"You mean that freaky bomb-throwing thing I heard that you fought?" Goombaria asked.

Mouser seemed to hear this as he growled down at the little goomba girl. "You've got a sharp tongue, girl!" He shouted. "If I had the time, I'd teach you a lesson!"

Mouser ripped the crystal from the clock, removing the hands at the same time. Several people had to get out of the way to avoid getting hit by the falling hands. Grinning slyly, Mouser leapt from the clock, grabbed a branch of a nearby tree, swung from it, spun several times in midair, landed on the ground and ran off down Mushroom Way.

Luigi suddenly felt something tugging on his pant leg. Looking down, he saw Sonar staring up at him. "What is it, Sonar?" He asked.

"He said that he didn't have time to teach Goombaria a lesson." Sonar replied. "You think he was taking that crystal to someone? Like maybe the person trying to get Daisy?"

Luigi's eyes widened. "You may have something there! It's been years since I've heard from Mouser and this would be a good chance for him to come back!"

The rest of the team agreed as they all ran from the crowd, racing after the escaping Mouser.

Unfortunately, Mouser was way too fast for the team, and ended up escaping quickly, leaving the team looking around Mushroom Way to find out where he went. Even Waluigi was searching as best as he could.

Sooner than later, all six team members turned to each other, all having the same response. "Nothing." They all said in unison.

Waluigi sighed in frustration. "Great! That freak escaped with that crystal thing and we have no clue where he went!"

Melody, however, was looking around curiously. "Just a minute, guys." She said, slowly turning from the group.

"What is it, Melody?" Goombaria asked.

"There's something strange going on." The former ghost replied. "Hear it?"

"I...Don't hear anything." Fice T said nervously.

"That's what's so strange." Melody said.

Everyone stood in silence, looking in different directions. This continued until...

_**"MARIOOOOOOOOO!"**_ A young voice screamed.

Everyone turned to the sudden shrill and saw a young Koopa charging towards the group in psychotic rage. What was so unusual was that he was still in his egg, wearing one half of the shell on top of his head and wearing the other half over the bottom half of his body instead of a normal shell. His small and round feet were sticking out of the shell and currently looked funny as the boy scurried along in his quest to reach the team.

The boy Koopa charged past Melody and continued running until tripping on a stone. He slid the rest of the way until coming to a halt at Luigi's feet. The boy quickly regained his composure, jumped to his feet and stared up at Luigi angrily. "Mario! I'm sure that you remember me, do ya!"

"Uh...I'm not Mario." Luigi said, looking down at the young creature that he was taller than by at least two feet.

"Don't give me that!" The boy snapped. "You just changed your outfit, lost that fat gut and went through a growth spurt so I wouldn't recognize ya!"

Everyone sweatdropped as Luigi turned to look around at the rest of the team. "Does anyone know this guy?" He asked.

"I do." Goombaria asked. "That's Jr. Troopa. He's somewhat of a bully and lost to Mario on his quest to recover the Star Rod. According to Goombario, he tried fighting Mario again five more times, but lost every battle thrown at him."

Jr. Troopa instantly turned from Luigi to stare at Goombaria. "Hey! Shut up! Shut UUUUUP!" He replied. He quickly turned to Luigi. "Let's do this, Mario!"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: JR. TROOPA - HEALTH: 3]**

Jr. Troopa charged at Luigi, but the green-clad plumber simply dodged by getting to the side. The young Koopa flew past Luigi, arms flailing. Jr. Tropa quickly noticed that Luigi wasn't there anymore, did an instant about- face and charged at Luigi again.

Luigi leapt into the air, and just as his opponent was passing underneath him. Luigi planted his feet into the back of Jr. Troopa's head, surprisingly doing it without cracking the eggshell. Jr. Troopa's face instantly hit the ground as he tried to shake off the effects of Luigi's blow.

Luigi quickly took the chance and struck Jr. Troopa with a hard karate chop. Unfortunately, it seemed to have no effect. Jr. Troopa quickly jumped to his feet, laughed at Luigi's attempt to damage him and swung his fist out, which Luigi easily avoided.

"_How am I gonna defeat him?"_ Luigi thought. _"That shell is to tough for my hand attacks."_

Suddenly, a thought came to him. The question was, would it work? _"It's worth a shot."_ Luigi thought as he backed away from Jr. Troopa.

Jr. Troopa charged at Luigi again. Luigi saw this and leapt into the air, again coming down on Jr. Troopa's head. He was again sent to the ground.

Luigi pulled his right fist back as he concentrated. Suddenly, a ball of electricity appeared in his hand. Once it was fully charged, Luigi thrust his hand out. A quick jolt of electricity went through Jr. Troopa's body, damaging him **[HIT]**.

"Gah!" Jr. Troopa said as he jumped to his feet. "I let my guard down there."

Luigi smirked. He now knew how to defeat his opponent.

Jr. Troopa again charged at Luigi. _"Doesn't this kid know how to do anything else?"_ Luigi thought. He quickly noticed that Jr. Troopa was running a little faster this time. Luigi jumped into the air, but Jr. Troopa was running so fast that he passed underneath him. Luigi knew that he'd have to jump a little earlier this time. Luigi landed on the grass to the side of the path and backed away from the oncoming Jr. Troopa, who had again did a 180 and was charging at the green-clad plumber.

Luigi jumped again, earlier this time. His timing was lucky, as just as he was starting to come down, Jr. Troopa was passing underneath him. Luigi landed on his opponent's head, sending Jr. Troopa to the ground. Luigi quickly ran up to the stunned youngster and pulled his hand back, again activating his Thunderhand. After Luigi lashed out his hand, Jr. Troopa was again electrified **[HIT]**.

"Alright! No more mister nice Koopa!" Jr. Troopa shouted as he jumped to his feet.

Jr. Troopa jumped back and thrust both fists into the air. "FULL POWER!" He shouted before he started glowing.

Luigi cocked an eyebrow. What could this kid do with more power? He suddenly found out, as Jr. Troopa leapt into the air, soaring right towards Luigi. Luigi jumped out of the way as Jr. Troopa hit the ground where he had been standing, creating a shockwave. Luckily, the shockwave died down before it reached Luigi. Instantly, Jr. Troopa jumped again, again going at Luigi. The hero quickly dove to the side as his opponent hit the ground, creating another shockwave. This time, Luigi was close enough to have to jump over the shockwave to avoid it.

"_This kid's not going to continue running again."_ Luigi thought. _"I need to think of another way to hit him."_

Luigi was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Jr. Troopa sailing towards him again. Luigi got out of the way and jumped as soon as Jr. Troopa hit the ground, causing the shockwave to go underneath the airborne plumber. Before Luigi hit the ground, he steered himself in midair to land on Jr. Troopa. His attack was a success, making Jr. Troopa stunned again. Luigi quickly activated his Thunderhand before Jr. Troopa snapped out of his daze. For the final time, Jr. Troopa received a jolt of electricity **[HIT]**.

"I'll...Get you...Next time...Mario." Jr. Troopa muttered as he collapsed to the ground.

Luigi folded his arms and looked down at his fallen opponent. "You've got spunk, kid. You're not that bad." He said.

**[END BATTLE. LUIGI WINS]**

Jr. Troopa started having leg spasms as he lay on the ground at Luigi's feet, defeated. Luigi turned from Jr. Troopa to look at the rest of the team. "You guys have any idea where we should go now?" He asked.

"We could try Koopa Village." Fice T suggested. "Maybe the Koopas there saw something."

Everyone agreed with the guard's suggestion as they walked off, leaving Jr. Troopa lying on the ground, twitching.

The team walked through Mushroom Way, towards Koopa Village. However, just as they were coming within the boundaries of Koopa Village, the team heard some strange noises, almost sounding like a battle.

"That sound..." Fice T said, surprisingly suspiciously. "It's flesh hitting flesh. Someone's attacking Koopa Village!"

Within a flash, Luigi, Waluigi, Sonar and even Fice T charged headfirst into the village, followed shortly by Melody and Goombaria.

The scene that lay before the team shocked everyone in it. Red-shelled Koopas were all over the village, attacking helpless villagers left and right. The sight of this made Luigi's blood boil.

"What do we do?" Melody asked. "We need to help them!"

"That's exactly what we're gonna do!" Luigi replied. "We'll spilt up. That way we can help more people."

Everyone nodded as they all split up, going throughout the village to help the friendly Koopas. Luigi found himself charging at a pair of Koopas terrorizing a pair of villagers. Luigi was surprised to find Waluigi running beside him.

The plumber pair leapt into the air at the same time, each performing a long jump. In perfect synchronization, Luigi and Waluigi landed on the backs of the evil Koopas, knocking them out.

"Are you guys alright?" Luigi asked the Koopas he and Waluigi had saved.

"Yeah. Thanks for the help, but the tough guys ran towards Kolorado's place!" One of the Koopas replied.

Luigi's eyes sprang open as he charged past the Koopas, straight towards the other part of the town. Waluigi was still beside him. Goombaria and Sonar were fighting the evil Koopas around the second half of the town, but Luigi's objective wasn't to help them. He and Waluigi ran towards Kolorado's house. Luigi tried to open the door, and started panicking when he found it locked.

"Come on, shorty!" Waluigi said. "Let's break it down!"

"It's looks like we've got no choice." Luigi said.

Luigi and Waluigi backed up and charged towards the door. The power from both plumbers was enough to break the door in.

Inside, Luigi quickly saw a pair of Chomp Bros. in the house, cornering Kolorado and his wife against a wall. Kolorado was bravely standing in front of his wife, although Luigi could tell that the professor was petrified in fear.

Acting quickly, Luigi charged at one of the Chomp Bros., kicking him in the side of the head. This caught the other one's attention, turning around just in time to see Waluigi's fist soaring straight at his face.

Within a matter of seconds, the plumbers had trounced the Chomp Bros., barely avoiding defeat at the hands of the wild chomps in their opponent's hands.

"Oh, thank you, chaps!" Kolorado said, vigorously shaking Luigi's hand. "My life was flashing before my eyes there!"

"Ah, it's nothing." Luigi said sheepishly.

"Nothing?" The British Koopa asked. "You two saved our lives! If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know!"

"Well," Waluigi replied. "You can tell us if you've seen a gray, bomb- throwing mouse wearing shades come by."

"Oh, yes!" Kolorado replied. "He was the one that sent all of those nasty Koopas on the village."

"Did you see where he went?" Luigi asked.

"There's a place behind Kooper's house where the Fuzzies used to hide out." The professor stated. "He ran off in that direction."

"Thanks, professor!" Luigi said as he quickly, but gently, broke from the handshake Kolorado was still giving him.

After saying goodbye, Luigi left the house with Waluigi behind him. Looking around, he saw all of the evil Koopas lying on the ground, defeated. He spotted the rest of the team, and motioned them to come over. The rest of the team quickly arrived at Luigi's side.

"Kolorado says that he saw Mouser go off towards the Fuzzy hideout behind Kooper's place." Luigi explained.

"Then we'd better get after him before he escapes with that crystal!" Sonar replied.

Everyone agreed as they ran towards Kooper's house. Because Kooper was out, no one was in the house. The team quickly ran through the house, and onto the pathway on the other side. The team continued running down the path, having to fight off the occasional Evil Koopa.

Soon, the team came to a more open area than on the path. It was a small field with four trees standing in the open. They quickly saw Mouser pacing back and forth impatiently.

"What's taking him so long?" Mouser said to himself. "He's never this late!"

"Mouser!" Luigi shouted.

Mouser froze, as he recognized the voice. He spun around and stared at Luigi in disbelief.

"It can't be!" Mouser said. "My Koopas were supposed to slow you down!"

"It'll take more than that to take us down, bomb-brain!" Goombaria shouted.

Luigi quickly turned to look at Goombaria in horror. He knew how much Mouser hated that name, as Luigi had used it himself when he first fought the psychotic rodent. Luigi quickly turned to Mouser, and saw him seething in anger, a slight twitch developing under the left eye of his shades.

"'Bomb-brain', is it?" Mouser asked. "I'll make those your last words, goomba girl!"

Without saying anything else, Mouser charged at the group, straight at Goombaria. The little goomba girl was too frightened to move, and was quickly scooped up into Mouser's arm as he ran by. Mouser quickly activated something on his watch, something Luigi hadn't noticed before. Mouser vanished into thin air, taking Goombaria with him.

**(Unknown Location)**

Not feeling Mouser holding onto her anymore, Goombaria opened her eyes. Her eyes widened and she looked around. She was standing on a circular stone platform suspended in some kind of void. A gap was separating the edge of the circle where Goombaria was standing from the middle of the circle. The gap went all the way around the circle, and was too long a jump for Goombaria to make it. The void the whole circle was in was made of black and green energy. Mouser was standing on the center of the circle, laughing at the goomba girl.

"W-Where am I?" Goombaria asked fearfully.

"The Nth dimension." Mouser replied. "Everyone working for the boss is given a watch that transports the owner and whatever he's holding to a custom-made battle arena."

"Battle arena?" Goombaria asked, eyes wide.

Mouser grinned evilly, pulling a bomb with a lit fuse from out of nowhere. "You got it!"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: MOUSER - HEALTH: 3]**

Mouser quickly threw the bomb he was holding at the stunned Goombaria, who quickly snapped out of her daze to see it coming. She quickly ran to the side as the bomb exploded, creating a small ball of flame that quickly died down. However, she didn't have much time to rest, as Mouser quickly threw another bomb.

Goombaria ran around the circle she was standing on, avoiding the bombs Mouser was throwing. She knew fully well how to defeat him, but she didn't get enough time to throw the bombs back before they exploded. She'd have to wait until Mouser threw a bomb that would take longer to blow up.

Mouser laughed psychotically as he threw four more bombs in a row, all exploding on contact with the concrete surface. He figured that Goombaria was as good as dead and he'd have the battle won in no time. Due to his overconfidence, he didn't even realize that the next bomb he threw was one with a slow fuse.

Goombaria, however, DID notice that the bomb had a slow fuse. As Mouser stopped laughing to continue laughing, Goombaria examined the bomb, thinking of a way to throw it, as she didn't have any hands.

Goombaria's eyes widened with an idea, but she didn't have time to try it out, as the bomb was too close to exploding. Goombaria ran away from the bomb as it exploded.

The sound of the bomb exploding brought Mouser back to reality. He continued throwing short-fuse bombs at Goombaria, who didn't stop running around the track. This continued for a good fifteen seconds before overconfidence got the better of Mouser, accidentally throwing another bomb with a slow fuse.

Instead of sending it back, Goombaria stood by the bomb, waiting. Mouser was too wrapped up in his laughing to notice. When she saw the bomb starting to flash yellow, Goombaria smirked.

"_This'll stop that laughing!"_ Goombaria thought as she pulled her foot back, spun it around several times, and thrust it at the bomb, kicking it with all her might. The bomb soared straight back at Mouser, exploding in his face. Goombaria was right, as it DID stop his laughing **[HIT]**.

"What the?" A blackened Mouser said in shock. He quickly shook the soot off. "A lucky shot..."

Mouser started throwing short-fuse bombs at Goombaria again, this time much quicker. Goombaria noticed the difference in speed and tried running faster around the arena. The bombs were closer to her when they exploded, but Goombaria managed to avoid getting hurt.

Goombaria noticed that she had to run a little longer than before, and she figured that she'd have to run even longer after damaging Mouser a second time. Soon, Mouser was yet again overcome with overconfidence, throwing another slow-fuse bomb. Mouser continued his laughing.

Goombaria again stood beside the bomb, but decided to start winding up for the kick a little sooner. Her assumptions were right, as the bomb started flashing again, quicker this time. Goombaria struck the bomb with her foot, sending it back at Mouser for another strike **[HIT]**.

"Ack!" Mouser said as he shook off the soot again. "Alright! Now I'm MAD!"

Goombaria suddenly decided that it would be a good time to start running.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" Mouser screamed psychotically as he threw dozens of bombs right after each other. He was throwing them so fast that Goombaria couldn't see his arms.

Goombaria had to run as fast as she could to avoid the bombs explosions, and the explosions were always dangerously close to Goombaria, but she barely managed to avoid the explosions without getting hurt.

Sweat dripped down Goombaria's small face. She could only hope that Mouser would throw a slow-fuse bomb soon.

Her wish was granted, as she heard Mouser start laughing insanely again. Looking back, she saw a bomb sitting on her part of the arena. She quickly turned around, hoping to reach the bomb before it exploded. Fortunately, it stayed intact long enough for the goomba girl to pull her foot back and kick it as soon as it started flashing.

Mouser stopped laughing to look at Goombaria struggle to get away from the bomb, but instead saw the bomb coming straight at his face. "Crud." He said flatly.

**BOOM!**

**[HIT]**

"I can't believe it!" Mouser said, slowly drifting off into unconsciousness. "Lost...To a...Goomba girl."

Goombaria jumped up and down twice before spinning around once on her right foot. "Not bad for a goomba, eh?" She said, smiling.

**[END BATTLE. GOOMBARIA WINS]**

**(Koopa Village)**

A flash of white suddenly blinded Goombaria. When she was able to see again, she was standing on the path behind Koopa Village again, with the rest of the team staring at her, wide eyed. Mouser was lying defeated not too far away.

"You...You defeated Mouser!" Luigi said in amazement.

"Yeah! It was easy!" Goombaria replied with a smirk.

"Well, let's get that crystal back." Melody said.

Everyone agreed as they turned to Mouser and started walking over to him. However, as the team was coming close, they saw a strange, glowing, white energy surrounding Mouser. The energy covered Mouser completely and faded away. But when the energy faded, Mouser was no longer there.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Fice T asked.

"I dunno, but he took the crystal!" Luigi replied.

The whole team, even Waluigi, exchanged worried glances to each other.


	4. Turtle Power

**Chapter four: Turtle Power**

**(Unknown Location)**

The leader of the villains sat alone in the shadows, pondering his next move. Mouser had lost to Luigi and his team, but had come back with the crystal he was sent to retrieve.

Suddenly, his train of thought was broken when he heard a door open. Looking towards the door, he saw a short figure in the shadows about the same height as Mario walk into the room.

"Boss dude, the gang is ready for our mission." The shorter figure said. "Have you like, located the next crystal needed to finished your cool plan?"

"I have." The leader replied. He handed a sheet of paper to the shorter figure, containing directions. "I hope that your team can get to the crystal before that green plumber can."

The shorter figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a Koopa wearing a red mask and red gloves that matched his red shell. "Don't worry, boss dude! The Koopa Bros. have everything under control!" Ninjakoopa Red said confidently.

"Don't call me dude."

**(Koopa Village)**

"So you're saying that you fought Mouser on a strange-looking, floating arena in a place called the 'Nth dimension'?" Luigi asked Goombaria.

"Yeah. I beat him, but as you guys know, he got away with the crystal." Goombaria replied.

"I wonder what he wanted with that crystal." Waluigi said. "What use could he possibly have for it?"

Fice T pondered for a few seconds before coming up with an idea. "I don't know, but I think I know someone who might."

**(Mushroom Kingdom)**

"It was a Power Crystal." Russ T said, nervously flipping through the pages of one of his books. "A crystal that can perform amazing feats when collected. In the hands of good, it could prove extremely helpful, but in the hands of evil, it could spell disaster for everyone."

"Why does a thing like that exist?" Melody asked.

"Well, originally, there was one Power Crystal, found by several well-known explorers, but when everyone realized what damage it could cause, they broke it into pieces. Now, there are a total of seven crystals scattered everywhere, but they are utterly useless unless they are all brought together again." The old mushroom replied.

Suddenly, everyone's eyes widened in realization.

"They're trying to find all the crystals!" Sonar cried.

"What can we do?" Goombaria asked.

"Find at least one of the crystals before they do." Luigi replied. He turned to Russ T. "Do you know of anyone that might know the location of the crystals?"

Russ T nodded. "Yes. Even though the main crystal was destroyed many years ago, some of the people who destroyed it are still alive." He smirked slightly. "The closest Power Crystal is around Soda Lake."

Everyone else froze before staring at the elder mushroom with wide eyes. "You were one of the people that originally destroyed the main crystal?" Fice T asked.

Russ T nodded. "Yes. While most of the others are dead, there ARE a few left, such as Koopa Koot, Lady Lima and Igor the Boo. But right now, I suggest you hurry and find that Power Crystal before the evil ones do."

Everyone nodded as they thanked the old mushroom and ran out the door. As soon as they were gone, Russ T exhaled nervously.

"I hope they find it before he does." Russ T said to himself. He just didn't really feel the need to tell everyone that one of the people who originally found the crystal had become evil, and Russ T would bet that he was the one behind Daisy's planned kidnapping.

Luigi's team ran through the streets of Toad Town, following Luigi towards the pipe that led to the sewers. Soon, they arrived at the pipe. Luigi quickly climbed up on top of the pipe and prepared to jump in.

"Why do we need to go into the sewers?" Sonar asked.

Luigi looked over his shoulder. "Soda Lake is a place Mario and I went to on out trip to recover Yoshi's friends." Luigi replied. "It's only accessible by a warp pipe in the sewers."

Without another word, Luigi jumped feet-first into the pipe, disappearing. Waluigi quickly followed, diving in. Melody went after, plugging her nose and holding her breath. Sonar and Goombaria jumped in at the same time. Fice T was the last to go in, but he stood on the edge of the pipe, trembling.

"B-But what if there's a monster down there?" Fice T asked into the pipe.

Waluigi's arm quickly shot back out of the pipe, grabbed Fice T's leg and pulled him in, ignoring the guard's terrified shouts.

**(Toad Town Sewers)**

The team walked through the sewers carefully. While they were in a hurry, the sewers had been known to be the home of Dark Koopas, Dark Goombas, and most of all, the dreaded Super Blooper. They wanted to make sure that they didn't attract any attention whatsoever. The team had been walking for a good while, and the corridors had become even darker. While he couldn't see her, Luigi could hear Goombaria whimpering quietly.

"I-It's getting darker." Goombaria whimpered. "I'm getting s-s-scared."

"Don't worry." Melody replied, sounding unusually calm. "If we stick together, we'll be fine."

No one could figure out how Melody could be so calm except Luigi. Spending so much time as a ghost would allow her to be used to the dark. It was already pitch black. No one could see anything.

"We'll form a chain and hold onto each other's hands." Luigi suggested. "I think I can see a little bit of light."

Everyone agreed as they held onto each other's hands and continued walking. Because Goombaria didn't have any hands, she jumped onto the shoulder of the closest person to her, although it was so dark that she couldn't tell who it was.

"Boy, Sonar." Everyone heard Melody say. "For a Shyguy, you've sure got big hands."

"Your hand feels like ice." Sonar replied.

"Don't worry, guys." Luigi said. "We're approaching a little bit of light."

Everyone found themselves exiting the tunnel they were currently in, entering the slightly-lit room ahead of them. Although once they were in the light, they saw something that would haunt them all for years to come.

A giant lantern ghost was holding onto Melody and Sonar's hands, with Goombaria perched on its shoulder. As soon as they saw what they were holding onto, Melody and Sonar instantly retracted their hands as Goombaria jumped off the ghost with a scream.

The lantern ghost pulled its lantern from out of nowhere and lifted it into the air. "THE GRIM REAPER COMES!" It shouted.

"I got it!" Waluigi said as he pushed past Luigi ad Fice T to face the monster.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: LANTERN GHOST – HEALTH: 3]**

The lantern ghost charged at the lanky plumber, although it wasn't very fast. Its footsteps were loud and heavy, but still close together to show that the creature was running. Waluigi easily avoided by stepping to the side. Waluigi turned around to see the lantern ghost again coming at him. Waluigi decided to not only avoid the attack, but counter it as well. Waluigi back-flipped over the ghost and planted his feet into the giant ghost's head. Although the lantern ghost staggered forward a few steps, it remained unfazed. The ghost turned around and started laughing at the purple plumber.

"Such weak attacks cannot hurt the Grim Reaper!" The lantern ghost taunted.

Waluigi's eyes widened. How could it NOT hurt the thing? In the meantime, the ghost held up its lantern.

"Now hold still so the Grim Reaper can pummel you!" The lantern ghost said.

The ghost inhaled deeply, then blew at the lantern with all its might. To Waluigi's surprise, a beam of light shot from the lantern, coming straight at him. Waluigi wasn't expecting this, and took the blow. The tall antihero was sent flying back, surprised by the power of such an attack. When Waluigi hit the ground, he instantly jumped to his feet.

"_My attacks don't damage it and the lantern delivers powerful blows."_ Waluigi thought. _"How am I supposed to defeat this thing?"_ As the lantern ghost charged at him again, Waluigi was deep in thought. _"The light that shot from the lantern didn't go in his direction. I wonder what would happen if I attacked the lantern."_

Waluigi didn't have time to test his theory, as the lantern ghost was too close. Avoiding the ghost's ram attack, Waluigi instantly turned around and shot his fist into the lantern. Suddenly, light shot from the lantern in all directions, lighting the room quickly. Almost instantly, the lantern ghost recoiled.

"AAAHHH! LIGHT!" The lantern ghost cried in pain. "LIGHT!"

Waluigi smirked as he charged towards the lantern ghost. _"It can't stand the light!"_ He thought. _"Perfect!"_

Waluigi pulled his fist down, and then shot it up once he got close to the lantern ghost. Everyone else stared in amazement as Waluigi's fist became engulfed in a dark purple flame, and the purple plumber rose off the ground, performing an enhanced flaming uppercut. The attack hit the lantern ghost square in the jaw, sending it high into the air. The ghost hit the ground with a loud 'thud'. **[HIT]**

"Ugh..." The lantern ghost moaned as it got up. "The Reaper will remember that..." Blowing on the lantern again, the room was again engulfed in darkness.

Waluigi had to squint, but he saw the lantern ghost charging at him again, a little bit faster this time. Waluigi ran to the side as the ghost passed him. Unfortunately, Waluigi's opponent had keen senses in the dark, and noticed that the plumber was no longer in his sights. It turned on a dime and charged at where Waluigi was now standing.

The purple plumber pulled his fist back to do a timed attack on the lantern, but this time, the ghost was ready. It stopped running just a few feet from Waluigi and stopped instantly. Waluigi swung his fist, but obviously hit nothing but air. As Waluigi spun around, trying to get his balance back, the lantern ghost readied for another beam of light to fire from the lantern.

The lantern ghost blew on the lantern with all its might, firing another wave of light at Waluigi. Luckily, he saw this coming and managed to jump into the air, arching himself over the wave of light as it passed underneath. While in midair, Waluigi steered himself towards the lantern ghost, kicking the lantern with his foot. Again, light flooded the room as the lantern ghost recoiled in pain. Waluigi took this opportunity and performed another flaming uppercut. **[HIT]**

After landing on the ground, the lantern ghost quickly jumped to its feet. "The Grim Reaper will enjoy defeating you!" It spat.

"Will you stop rambling on about that guy!" Waluigi shouted, frustrated.

Instead of running, the lantern ghost leapt at Waluigi, soaring through the air with strangely-fast speed. Waluigi got out of the way just as the lantern ghost hit the ground. Unlike Luigi's battle with Jr. Troopa, the lantern ghost didn't send out a shockwave.

Waluigi didn't get a chance to send out a counter attack, as the lantern ghost jumped into the air again instantly. Waluigi barely made it out of the way as the lantern ghost made contact with the ground. Again, it jumped into the air and came down, again missing Waluigi by a matter of inches.

After recovering from almost being crushed like a grape, Waluigi saw that the lantern ghost was preparing to send out another wave of light. Waluigi quickly ran at his opponent, leapt into the air and landed his foot on the lantern. Light shot out in all directions as the giant monster reeled back in pain. It would soon bee feeling a third strike from Waluigi's flaming uppercut. **[HIT]**

"Impossible..." The lantern ghost said as it slowly collapsed. "The Grim Reaper can't be defeated..."

Waluigi slammed his foot down and laughed heartily. "What the heck was THAT supposed to be?" He asked.

**[END BATTLE. WALUIGI WINS]**

Waluigi thrust his fist at the lantern ghost one more time, sending it flying back several feet, off the edge of the stone platform and into the polluted water. The lantern ghost was quickly carried away down a long, dark tunnel. Everyone heard the lantern ghost scream something about the Grim Reaper until it faded into quietness.

"Boy, it's going to be pretty upset when it finds itself at Shiver City." Luigi said. The others nodded as they all continued down the tunnels of the sewers.

Sooner than later, the team came upon a green pipe sticking out of the concrete platform they were standing on. A sign was stuck to it, with the words 'Soda Lake' written on it.

"That's the one." Luigi said.

"Why's the pipe labeled?" Goombaria asked.

"I decided to label all the warp pipes I could find so I'd know where I'd end up at." Luigi explained. "Believe me, there's nothing worse than ending up at Ice Land in your swim shorts when you were originally planning for Water Land." He heard Waluigi chuckle, but ignored it. "Well, if we're going to find that Power Crystal, I suggest we get moving."

After Luigi went in first, the team followed closely, but not before Waluigi threw Fice T into the pipe to make sure that he went down. When Waluigi went into the pipe, he was the last one to go in.

**(Donut Plains)**

Waluigi found himself getting tossed out of the warp pipe, which reminded him of the time he and Wario were being chased by a severely ticked-off Bowser while Mario and the others were playing golf. After landing on his stomach, Waluigi stood to his feet and dusted himself off. Looking around, he saw that he was standing on a lush, green platform with a sparkling lake close by. The sun was high in the sky, allowing for the perfect temperature. The clouds were white, fluffy and spread out and everything, even the mountains and flowers, looked cheerful. Far too cheerful for Waluigi's tastes. He quickly saw Luigi and the others standing at the edge of the platform, looking into the lake. He walked over to them.

Luigi heard Waluigi coming and decided to give his opinion. "Russ T said that the crystal was around Soda Lake, but there's too many places around Soda Lake to begin with." He said, stroking his chin. "I think we should split up and search all over."

"Sounds good to me." Melody said.

"But I think it would be better if one of us searched IN Soda Lake here. There's a chance that it could be hidden underneath the water." Luigi said. "The bad thing is that I don't have a spare Frog Suit on me."

"No need." Sonar replied, walking towards the water's edge. "I'll go in myself."

"You can't be serious, Sonar!" Luigi said, wide eyed. "With depths as deep as Soda Lake, your eardrums will explode!"

"So what's your point?" Sonar asked. "I don't _have_ ears."

No one could argue with that, and wished Sonar good luck as the young Shyguy dove into Soda Lake. After Sonar vanished, everyone split up to look elsewhere for the crystal.

**(Soda Lake)**

Sonar sank further and further into the water, looking around the whole way down. He was expecting some dangerous fish like a Big Bertha or something, but the worst he saw was a group of strange-looking Cheep Cheeps and a Rip Van Fish or two. He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt himself touching ground. Looking around again, he started to walk along the floor of the lake slowly, keeping an eye open for something that sparkled.

As he walked along, many Cheep Cheeps tried rushing him in groups, but they all fell to Sonar's powerful punches. Even the Rip Van Fishes and their psychotic rage when woken up were no match for Sonar.

Suddenly, Sonar heard what sounded like a machine whirring coming from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Sonar saw something he hadn't been expecting: A long, thing version of Bullet Bill with glasses and buck teeth. A Torpedo Ted being launched from a black box resting inside part of the ground. It was soaring straight at Sonar with enough speed to rival a Bullet Bill.

While he was surprised at this, Sonar was certainly not afraid. Turning around completely, Sonar pulled his fist back as the Torpedo Ted closed in on him. Sonar had heard that neither of the Mario Bros. could defeat a Torpedo Ted, but he felt that he could. Once the Torpedo Ted came close enough, Sonar thrust his fist out as fast as he could, nailing the crazed torpedo with enough force to send a giant Goomba from one side of Toad Town to the other. The Torpedo Ted instantly exploded, leaving Sonar unharmed.

As soon as the torpedo exploded, Sonar saw that another one was being launched from the black box. Knowing that he wouldn't have time to take on the rest of the torpedoes in the box, Sonar turned around again and started running away, although it wasn't that fast. Luckily, he found a corner and went around it, escaping the Torpedo Teds. A good while of avoiding Torpedo Teds and defeating Cheep Cheeps later, Sonar was walking along the very bottom of Soda Lake, still searching for the Power Crystal. He was beginning to think about giving us his search when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at it. Whatever it was, it sure was sparkling. Suddenly, Sonar's eyes widened behind his mask. The Power Crystal! It was tangled within some coral, and the sun beams shining from the surface far above were making it sparkle even more.

As quick as he could underwater, Sonar rushed over to the coral and started to work on getting the crystal out of it. It took a couple minutes, but Sonar finally managed to get the crystal out of the coral. The young Shyguy lifted the crystal above his head in triumph.

Unfortunately, his victory was short lived. Sonar suddenly heard another noise that sounded like a machine whirring, but it sounded completely different than from a Torpedo Ted. Turning around, Sonar saw a mini-sub floating close to him with four windows, each holding a strange-looking Koopa wearing a ninja mask and gloves. The one in red was laughing. Before Sonar could do anything, the sub had glowed a bright white, blinding him.

**(Nth Dimension)**

When Sonar opened his eyes, he saw that he was no longer on the bottom of Soda Lake. Instead, he was standing on a large, octagon platform floating in some kind of void made of green and black energy. It looked just like Goombaria had described it, only the platform looked different. He was in the Nth Dimension.

Sonar suddenly realized that he wasn't holding the crystal anymore. Looking on the ground, he couldn't see it.

"Looking for this, dude?" A voice asked.

Sonar looked in the direction of the voice and saw the four Ninja Koopas from earlier standing on the other side of the platform. The one in red, obviously the leader, was holding the crystal in his hands with a sly smirk on his face.

"Give that back!" Sonar shouted.

"Come and get it!" Red taunted, putting the crystal in his shell. "Let's get him, guys!"

Sonar's eyes widened when each of the Koopas pulled out a weapon. Yellow pulled out a pair of Sais, Black pulled out a pair of Nunchucks and green sported a long staff. Red whipped out a Katana and pointed it at Sonar. "Koopa Bros. AWAY!"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: KOOPA BROS. – RED'S HEALTH: 3]**

Yellow, Green and Black all rushed at Sonar, swinging their respective weapons so fast that they were spinning at unbelievable speeds. Red wisely got out of the way as the rest of the team suddenly lost their target and started spinning out of control, spinning all over the platform that they became more dangerous than if they hadn't lost track of Sonar.

And adding to the problem was the fact that Red was running around the arena, attempting to attack Sonar with his Katana every time he got close. Luckily, Sonar had seen this coming and ran from the attacks.

Sonar ran out of the way as Yellow had almost collided with him. The young Shyguy decided to try and attack Red, as he seemed to be the leader of the team. However, just as Sonar came close, Red whipped his Katana out and blocked Sonar's fist. Red gave a quick whistle, which brought the rest of the team out of their spinning to rush to their leader's aid. Luckily, as all three of the other Koopa Bros. started to attack him, Sonar saw this and jumped away from Red and plowed his shoulder through the other three, sending Yellow and Green back and sending Black flying a good ten feet into the air, spinning violently.

"_This guy will call the others if I try to attack him!"_ Sonar thought. _"Maybe I should wait for the others to stop spinning first and see what happens."_

As soon as Sonar was far enough away, Yellow, Green and Black continued their spinning, again going out of control. Red continued running around the arena, not only trying to attack Sonar but avoiding his fellow teammates.

Sonar quickly saw Green spinning towards his. Sonar remembered that Green had been carrying the Bo, which had given him the longest reach. Sonar stayed his distance, trying to avoid the added reach of the Green Koopa Bro.

As Sonar ran, Green suddenly stopped spinning, wobbling in place, trying to regain his sights. Looking around, Sonar saw that Black and Yellow were no different. Deciding to take the opportunity, Sonar ran at Green walked around him so that Green was aimed at Red, pulled his fist back and quickly lashed it out.

Now, normally, a punch like the one Sonar gave Green would be enough to defeat a normal enemy instantly, but this was no ordinary enemy, so Green was sent flying straight back, his shell making contact with Red's face. Red recoiled in pain, landed on his shell, did a half flip and slid for a few feet before finally stopping. **[HIT]**

"Ugh!" Red said as he got to his feet. "Bring it on, little dude!"

Sonar smirked behind his mask. He now knew how to defeat the Koopa Bros.

Green, Black and Yellow quickly ran back to join Red. Once they were all lined up in front of their leader, Red hit hem all in the back with his Katana, sending them all spinning in different directions. As soon as they were all spinning, Red again ran at Sonar with his Katana in hand.

"Hold still and let me hit you, dude!" Red shouted, leaping into the air and bringing his Katana above his head.

Sonar quickly ran to the side as Red came down and struck the ground with his Katana, creating a fairly large slice in the arena floor, showing Sonar the immense power of red's weapon.

In the meantime, Sonar had seen that the other three Ninjakoopas had stopped spinning and started wobbling. Sonar ran towards the closest of the three, which was Green again, and punched Green with enough force to send him flying at Red for another hit.

Or so he thought. Green bounced off Red, doing no damage to the leader of the Koopa Bros. Sonar's eyes widened. How could Red be unaffected? Sonar came up with a pretty lame idea, but decided to try it anyway. He quickly ran towards another of the Koopa Bros., Black, and punched him instead. Black was sent flying back, his shell finding its way to Red's jaw. Red was again sent to the ground. **[HIT]**

"Oh, man!" Red said, getting to his feet. "Dudes! What happened to our teamwork?"

Sonar now knew how to defeat his four opponents for sure this time. Every time Red got struck, he would gain an immunity to that particular Koopa Bro. So to confirm his theory, Sonar knew that he'd have to go for Yellow this time.

Yellow, Black and Green again went back to Red, who instantly hit them with his Katana. The other three Koopa Bros. spun out of control, spinning everywhere, as Red again went in for the kill.

Sonar dodged everything that Red threw at him as he tried to keep as close to Yellow as he could, although it was a little difficult at first to tell who it was because he was spinning so fast. Sonar wanted to try and attack Red so that he would be given more time, but he knew that that would just cause the others to stop spinning and help their leader.

Luckily, the other three Koopa Bros. stopped spinning soon, and Sonar was right in thinking that the one he decided to stay close to was Yellow. Sonar lined Yellow up with Red, pulled his fist back and delivered an insanely powerful blow. Yellow was sent flying back, striking Red with enough force for the final hit. **[HIT]**

"Oh, man..." Red moaned, drifting into unconsciousness. "That's...So...Bogus."

Sonar pulled his fist down, spun it a few times and launched it into the air, making himself airborne at the same time. "There's no way you guys could stand up to the originals!" He laughed before a white light blinded him again.

**[END BATTLE. SONAR WINS]**

**(Soda Lake)**

When Sonar opened his eyes, he saw that he was again on the floor of Soda Lake, with the Koopa Bros. sub floating not too far away. All four of them were unconscious.

Suddenly, Sonar remembered the crystal. Sonar was about to rush at the sub when it was engulfed it glowing white energy. When the energy vanished, the sub, Koopa Bros. and crystal were all gone.

Sonar inwardly sighed as he started swimming up towards the surface of Soda Lake. He'd have to get to the surface and find the others quickly before the villains could find the next crystal.


	5. King of Ghosts

**Chapter five: King of Ghosts**

**(Unknown Location)**

"The Koopa Bros. failed to defeat Luigi's team." The dark figure said from the shadows of the room. A lone, round figure was floating in front of him, shrouded in the shadows as well. "But it was expected. At least they found the crystal. We now have two." He looked towards the round figure. "Now, I'm assuming that you remember where I told you the next crystal is?"

"Yes, but I don't see how I should be taking orders from you." The round figure replied.

"Hey, the deal was that you would work for me in return for me helping you get your revenge on Luigi." The figure pointed out.

The round figure floated out of the shadows, revealing a Boo with a blue tongue wearing a red crown. "Okay. I'm on my way." King Boo sighed.

**(Donut Plains)**

"So you're saying that you found the crystal, but the Koopa Bros. took it?" Luigi asked the young Shyguy that had emerged from the depths of Soda Lake.

"Yes." Sonar nodded. "Ah, man! I was SO close!"

"Well, there's not much we can do now." Melody sighed. "We'd better get back to Russ T and find out where the next crystal is."

**(Mushroom Kingdom)**

"I'm terribly sorry, but I honestly don't know where any of the other crystals are." Russ T said, his head low.

"Why not?" Goombaria asked.

"We had a rule." Russ T replied. "Those of us remaining who found the original crystal would only keep track on where one of the pieces are." He shook his head. "That means that I only have the knowledge on where the crystal you had just found was."

"Then where to we go to next?" Waluigi asked.

"You'll have to seek out the remaining number of my colleagues to locate the rest of the crystals." The elderly toad replied. "You should try Koopa Koot first. He might know."

"Well, thanks for your help, Russ T." Luigi said.

After everyone had left Russ T's house, they started walking through Toad Town, deciding to take the sewers again to reach Koopa Village faster.

**(Koopa Village)**

After jumping back down the pipe to the sewers, it was a very short trip to the pipe that reached Koopa Village. After emerging from the pipe, the team walked to Koopa Koot's house, which was just across from the pipe.

Luigi knocked on the door, expecting the elder Koopa to answer. When Koopa Koot didn't answer the door, Luigi tried again. Again, the knocking went unanswered. "Something's up." Luigi said. "Let's go in."

Everyone quickly went into the house, expecting to see Koopa Koot passed out on the floor from a heart attack or something. Instead, they all sweatdropped when they saw Koopa Koot standing upright, sound asleep, snoring like a train.

"Um...Koopa Koot?" Luigi asked, poking the old Koopa in the shoulder. Koopa Koot remained asleep.

"There's got to be some way to wake him up." Waluigi said.

"Let's try asking some of the Koopas out there." Fice T suggested.

Everyone agreed as they left Koopa Koot's house and walked over to the nearest Koopa.

"Excuse us, but Koopa Koot's sound asleep and we need to speak with him." Luigi said.

"Is he standing up?" The Koopa asked.

"Yeah."

"Then he'll sleep for a good seven hours unless you give him a couple of his caffeine pills." The Koopa replied.

"Where does he keep them?" Sonar asked.

"I'm afraid that he doesn't have any at the moment." The Koopa replied, rubbing the back of his head. "A Bandit came by not more than five minutes ago and swiped the pills."

"And you didn't stop him?" Goombaria asked.

"A couple of the others ran off after him." The Koopa replied. He looked away from the team. "Oh, look. Here they come now."

Everyone turned to see two Koopas walking over to them. "Sorry." One of them said. "We couldn't catch him."

"What would a Bandit want with caffeine pills?" Melody thought aloud.

"You got us." The other Koopa replied. "But then again, you all know how those Bandits will swipe anything they get their mitts on."

"Well, we can't wait for him to wake up on his own!" Luigi insisted. "Where did the Bandit go?"

"He went running along Mushroom Way, away from Toad Town."

"Thanks!" Luigi said as he and the team ran off.

After leaving Koopa Village, the team ran up a few platforms and did a hard right turn to run through Mushroom Way, leading away from Toad Town.

The team ran down the path, having to fight off the occasional Goomba or Dark Koopa. Still, they couldn't find the Bandit anywhere. As they ran, the team looked in all different directions. They were currently running underneath the stone arches just outside the Koopa Bros. old fortress.

"Where could that freak have gone?" Goombaria asked.

Everyone would've thought that her question would go unanswered, but they were all in for a surprise. Melody saw something fly from the bushes at the side of the path and land near the team's feet. On closer inspection, they saw that it was a glowing, white orb.

Seeing the orb, Melody's eyes widened. "Get down!" She cried.

No one had time to react, as the orb suddenly exploded in a ball of white light, blinding everyone and knocking them back.

When the light cleared, Fice T was the only one left standing. Everyone else had collapsed. The nervous guard looked at where the orb had come from.

"C-Come out of there!" Fice T said, wringing his spear as he pointed it at the bushes.

"Heehee. Very well." A voice replied.

Fice T's eyes widened when he saw a small and thin figure lunge out of the bushes, straight at him. Thinking quick, Fice T swerved to the side, allowing the figure to pass. The figure rolled along the ground for a little bit before stopping, standing on his feet.

For the first time, Fice T got a glimpse of a Bandit. He was surprised at how similar it looked to a Shyguy. The little guy was slightly taller and thinner than a Shyguy, and there was an actual face on his mask, complete with a mischievous grin. He also saw that the mask could change its facial expressions to that of it's wearer, including moving the mouth. He wore a light blue cloak.

"Oh! It's just a little guy!" Fice T said, all fear leaving him. "This is gonna be easy!"

"Don't be so sure." The Bandit smirked, putting up his fists. "They don't call me a master thief for nothing."

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: BANDIT - HEALTH: 3]**

Instead of rushing at Fice T, the Bandit dove into one of the bushes surrounding the makeshift arena. Wondering what the Bandit was thinking of doing, Fice T went over to the bush and brushed the branches away.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Fice T asked himself when he saw nothing in the bush.

"Back here, loser!" The Bandit replied from behind.

Spinning around instantly, Fice T saw the Bandit leaping out from another bush not too far away. The Bandit placed his hands against the sides of his head and stuck his tongue out at Fice T before diving back into the bush.

Fice T charged over to the bush and searched it, again coming up with nothing.

"You're too slow!" The Bandit taunted as he leapt out from another bush.

"_It's almost like this guy's warping."_ Fice T thought. _"He's too fast for me!"_

Fice T instantly turned around and charged at the Bandit, who had come out of another bush two bushes away from the previous one. Fice T lunged at the Bandit with his spear, but what the Bandit did next surprised the guard: He held up his left fist, which had some sort of strange bracelet on it, and stayed still. Fice T's spear went beside the Bandit's fist, but struck what felt like an invisible wall.

"_A force field!"_ Fice T thought. _"He must've swiped it from the WooHoo Hooniversity!"_

The Bandit taunted Fice T again as he did an about-face and dove into the bush he had just come out of.

"_He'll use the force field if I attack him out in the open!"_ Fice T thought, trying to come up with a plan. _"Maybe I should try and see if he has a pattern."_

The Bandit leapt out of another bush, again two bushes away from the previous one. The Bandit taunted the guard again as he leapt back into the bush.

Fice T's eyes widened. _"Did I just see a pattern?"_ He thought.

Deciding to try the theory out, Fice T ran to the bush that was two bushes away from the one the Bandit had vanished into. The guard plunged the handle of his spear into the bush, suddenly hearing and feeling it connect to something. Fice T smirked as the bandit stumbled out from the bush, holding his head.

Fice T quickly initiated the next phase of his attack, spinning around with his spear outstretched. The spear clobbered the Bandit in the back, sending the Shyguy-lookalike to the ground. **[HIT]**

The Bandit moaned as he quickly got to his feet. "He's better than I thought." He muttered loud enough for Fice T to hear.

The Bandit quickly dove into the nearest bush as Fice T stopped himself from spinning.

Quickly recovering from the dizziness, Fice T ran towards a bush, expecting the Bandit to perform the same pattern of attacks.

He was right in which bush the Bandit came out of, but unfortunately, Fice T was a little too late. The Bandit was already out in the open. Suddenly, the Bandit used a new attack. Reaching into his pocket, the Bandit hurled three small, round bombs at Fice T.

Fice T's eyes widened, recognizing the bombs. Fice T quickly stopped in his tracks and dodged the bombs as they hit the ground. Fice T ran to safety as the small bombs exploded, resulting in three surprisingly big explosions of water.

"_Water Bombs."_ Fice T thought. _"Obviously stolen from Moleville."_

Fice T knew that he had to act quick if he was to attack the Bandit again. He saw that the Bandit was just diving into the bush again. The guard rushed over to the next predicted bush and plunged the handle of his spear into it, again hitting something. The Bandit stumbled out of the bush, and Fice T again spun around, attacking the bandit for the second time, sending him to the ground. **[HIT]**

"Man! Am I losing my touch?" The Bandit asked himself as he got to his feet and ran to another bush, diving in.

Fice T rushed towards the next predicted bush, but stopped short when he heard something.

"You'll never defeat me!" The Bandit yelled as he leapt out from another bush, clutching a glowing white orb in each of his hands.

Fice T's eyes widened as he suddenly thought that it was a very good idea to stay clear of the Bandit. He was right, as the Bandit plunged the orb into the ground by his feet, creating a dome of white energy that quickly spread out, almost making it to where Fice T was standing before vanishing.

"_I don't know where he got those, but they're real powerful."_ Fice T thought. As Fice T charged at the Bandit, the crook was already running towards the bush again. The Bandit dove into the bush as Fice T ran towards the bush he knew the bandit would come out of next.

Like before, unfortunately, Fice T was just a little too late, as the Bandit already leapt out from the bush, reached into his pocket and threw three more Water Bombs at the guard. Fice T managed to avoid the bombs and their explosions, and allowed the bandit to dive back into the bush.

As quick as he could, Fice T ran towards the next bush and quickly plunged his spear into it. He grinned when he heard the handle striking something again. The Bandit stumbled out of the bush again, leaving himself open for a third spin attack from Fice T. **[HIT]**

"Impossible...I'm the ultimate Shadow Thief." The Bandit said as he finally collapsed.

"Whew!" Fice T said, spinning his spear around in his left hand before plunging the handle into the ground, then raising it above his head. "That was almost TOO close."

**[END BATTLE. FICE T WINS]**

When the rest of the team woke up, they saw a scene that none of them would've expected: Fice T standing triumphant over the defeated body of the Bandit.

"Fice T did it!" Goombaria said. "He defeated the Bandit."

"Well, let's search him for those pills for Koopa Koot." Luigi said.

Waluigi and Fice T pulled the Bandit to his feet and started searching through his pockets.

"Let's see." Waluigi said as he pulled out a couple squares of candy. "Caramel chewy candy."

"Hey, I like those things." The Bandit insisted.

Waluigi pulled out about two dozens empty wrappers. "Yeah. I can see that."

"POW Block." Fice T said, pulling out a POW Block.

"It's for emergencies!" The Bandit replied.

"A couple storeroom keys." Waluigi said, pulling out a pair of blue keys.

"Uh...Those are family heirlooms." The Bandit said, trying to come up with an excuse.

"A toy train." Fice T said, pulling out a train that looked like the one from the Shyguy Toybox.

"That's my brothers! Honest!" The Bandit insisted.

Waluigi pulled out a strange-looking object from the Bandit's pocket that was clearly five times bigger than the Bandit. "Rocket Launcher."

"I have a permit for that." The Bandit said.

Fice T pulled out a small container containing several pills. "Hey! I think I found them!"

"Thank goodness." Luigi said. "I'm almost afraid to find out what's in the rest of his pockets."

**(Koopa Village)**

Luigi and the team stood back in Koopa Koot's house, where the old Koopa was still asleep. Luigi opened up the capsule and dumped two pills into his hand.

"This should do it." Luigi said.

Luigi dropped the two pills into Koopa Koot's mouth and waited impatiently with the rest of his team.

After a couple seconds, Koopa Koot's eyes sprang open. "Huh? Wha?" He asked, looking around.

"Finally!" Luigi said, placing the pills back on the shelf. "Now, could you tell us what you know about the Power Crystals?"

Koopa Koot, wide-eyed, instantly gave his reply. "There I was, surrounded by a bunch of BeanBean soldiers, when one of them, a Platypus as I recall it, hit me with a carp!"

The old Koopa was about to continue when Melody interrupted. "What does this have to do with the Power Crystals?" She asked.

"Not a thing!" Koopa Koot replied quickly. "Now I had never reasoned with a Platypus before, let alone a BeanBean one, so I-"

"THE POWER CRYSTALS!" An aggravated Waluigi shouted.

"Oh, alright." Koopa Koot slightly pouted. "Now, as you all might know, I'm one of the researchers that originally found the full crystal. However, once we all realized what evil it could cause, we destroyed it, scattering its seven pieces all over. Once there were only a select few of us still alive, we each decided to keep track on one of the Power Crystal shards."

"Yes, we know that." Sonar pointed out. "But someone evil is after them, and we've already lost two shards to this guy."

The old Koopa's eyes sprang open. "WHAT? We can't let this person get all seven. Do you all know what could happen?"

"Just tell us where the crystal shard you were keeping track of is and we'll try to get to it before this guy sends another one of his cronies after it." Luigi insisted.

"Okay." Koopa Koot replied. "As I recall, it's hidden within an old wooden house..."

"W-Wooden house?" Fice T whimpered, eyes wide in fear.

"...At the Edge of Forever Forest."

"F-Forever F-Forest?" Fice T asked, trembling.

"You know. The one that inhabited by all those Boos."

"B-B-B-BOOS?" Fice T screamed as he leapt into Melody's arms and wrapped his arms around her neck.

"Well, thank you for the information, Koopa Koot." Luigi said, shaking the old Koopa's hand. "We'll make sure that whoever's behind this will not succeed."

**(Forever Forest)**

Deciding to take a Warp Pipe rather than go all the way through Forever Forest to help reduce Fice T's fear, Luigi led the team through Toad Town again, again leaping down the sewers, followed by everyone else. Another short trip later and they were just outside of the haunted Boo Mansion. It took the combined effort of Luigi, Waluigi AND Sonar to push Fice T to the mansion, but they were soon all at the front door.

"I'm sure Lady Bow won't wind us barging in on her." Luigi said, pushing the door open and walking inside. The rest of the team followed, but not before Waluigi and Sonar pushed the terrified Fice T inside.

Inside was Fice T's worst nightmare. Boos. Dozens and dozens of Boos. They were all flying around, every last one of them looking like they were in a state of panic.

Luigi looked around, confused. "What's the heck's going on?" He asked aloud.

"Ah, master Luigi!" A Boo with a mustache cried as he floated down from the upper floor.

"Hello, Bootler. What seems to be the problem?" Luigi asked.

"Bootler?" Fice T thought aloud, starting to tremble again. "It's the ghost that sent me that spooky letter. It has to be." The guard quickly hid behind Waluigi.

"You came at the perfect time!" Bootler explained. "We have an intruder, and he's holding Lady Bow in the highest room, interrogating her about some sort of crystal!"

"Why can't you guys just float into the room and rescue her, then?" Luigi asked.

"Because that's mistress Bow's room, and none of us ghosts can go through the door! It's made out of some strange ghost-proof material that even I have no clue about!" Bootler replied.

"Well, is there anything we can do to help?" Luigi asked.

"Well, the door is locked, and the only way for you humans to access it is no longer accessible." Bootler replied, scratching his non-existent chin. Suddenly, he brightened up a little. "Tell me, is there anyone among you that is afraid of ghosts?"

Almost instantly, four hands were pointing directly at Fice T. Because she had no hands, Goombaria simply jerked her head in Fice T's direction. The guard looked around, confused.

Bootler rubbed his hands together. "Perfect! Absolutely perfect!" He put the tip of his 'hand' into his mouth and gave a whistle.

Fice T looked around. Almost instantly, every ghost in the house was surrounding him, each giving him an evil grin. Bootler quickly joined in. The circle of ghosts encircled the already-terrified guard and started to close around him.

As much as Fice T tried to control it, he couldn't handle this many ghosts. Letting out a terrified scream, Fice T rocketed into the air, flapping his arms in an attempt to give himself more air. The guard was sent high into the air, arched over the balcony on the top floor and plowed into the doors, breaking them open.

On the ground floor, all of the Boos were rejoicing. "Please remind me to thank your friend later." Bootler said to Luigi before turned to the rest of the ghosts. "Okay, everyone! This is it! Let's not fail mistress Bow!"

Just as all of the Boos were about to take to the air, everyone heard Fice T screaming again. They all watched as the guard leapt off the third floor, screaming the whole way down. Fice T landed on the ground by the rest of the team.

"What did you see up there?" Sonar asked, helping Fice T to his feet.

"Boo...With...Crown." Fice T said in between breaths.

Luigi's eyes widened in shock. "A Boo with a crown?"

Suddenly, Luigi and Melody heard an all-too-familiar laugh as they saw a Boo with a blue tongue wearing a red crown appear on the top floor.

"King Boo!" Luigi shouted in shock.

"Yes. It is I, my pathetic friend." King Boo replied with a sly smirk. "Surprised to see me? Wondering how I escaped my painting prison to begin with?" His grin turned evil. "That all doesn't matter! What matters is that I want revenge, and I-"

King Boo cut himself off when he caught a glimpse of Melody, who was standing beside Luigi. At first, he looked surprised, but that look was quickly masked.

"Melody Pianissima." King Boo smirked. "You look so much different since the last time I saw you."

Melody gulped. She was too afraid to say anything now that King Boo recognized her. Even Luigi was surprised at how King Boo could recognize Melody now.

"Yes, I remember you." King Boo said, seeing Melody's fear. "I remember how you were never loyal to me at all, just like the strongman, pool player and stupid butler."

Instantly, all of Melody's fear left her as she glared at King Boo angrily and balled her hands. "Don't you dare say such things about Shivers! He cared for everyone almost as much as Nana did!"

King Boo smirked as he turned to Luigi. "I was originally going to get my revenge on you, Luigi. But you know what? I think I want revenge on her just a little bit more."

The evil Boo swept down from the upper balcony and flew right at Melody. Too afraid to run, Melody shielded herself with her arms. She could do nothing as King Boo engulfed her, making the two of them vanish in a bright light.

**(Nth Dimension)**

Melody waited for King Boo to strike, but couldn't feel anything. She dared to uncover her eyes, but once she did, she was in total shock. Just like Goombaria and Sonar explained it, she was in the Nth Dimension. The arena looked just like the arena where Luigi did battle with King Boo before. It was obvious that King Boo wanted his rematch against Luigi.

The frightened girl quickly saw her enemy floating not too far away, his long, blue tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"Scared yet, Melody?" King Boo asked.

Melody quickly stood straight. "No way! I was once a ghost too! If Luigi can overcome his fears to beat you, then so can I!" She replied confidently.

King Boo snickered. "We'll just see how scared you get, Meldoy!" He looked around. "Okay, guys! Let's do this!"

Melody's eyes widened when she saw seven normal Boos fly into the arena that started circling King Boo. The Boos closed around King Boo, creating a bright light. Melody shielded her eyes.

When Melody uncovered her eyes, she was expecting to see King Boo floating there with a little backup, but what she saw instead was something that made her glad that Fice T wasn't with her.

King Boo was now ten times his normal size.

The giant ghost laughed. "Scared now?" He taunted.

Melody didn't reply. She just screamed.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: KING BOO – HEALTH: 3]**

Melody stopped herself from screaming when she saw King Boo rush at her, lashing his gigantic tongue around in an attempt to strike her. Melody dove to the side as King Boo flew by.

After seeing that his rush attack had failed, King Boo turned around and again rushed at Melody. The girl again jumped to the side, but decided to try and attack her opponent at the same time. Before King Boo had time to turn around, Melody lunged at King Boo and attempted to land her foot against the evil king's body. While her kick was a success, she bounced off of the giant Boo, her attack having no effect.

"You can't harm me while I'm this big!" King Boo laughed. "Nothing can harm me!"

Melody gulped. None of her attacks would work? She could only watch as King Boo turned around and charged her again.

Melody knew that she wouldn't have enough time to dodge now, and simply backed up against one of the stone pillars on the arena.

Although, once she felt that the pillar was a little warm, Melody looked down. She saw a little bit of light coming from the cracks in the bricks of the pillar, almost as if there was a giant light bulb inside.

Not being able to think of anything else to do, Melody grabbed a loose brick and ripped it out of the pillar, sending a small beam of light straight at the giant ghost. The beam of light struck King Boo in the face, making him recoil slightly.

Melody slightly smirked as her eyes widened slightly. She just might have been able to find King Boo's weakness. Thinking quickly, Melody ripped several more bricks from the pillar, making the light even brighter and more powerful. The amount of light was apparently too much for King Boo to handle, and he suddenly stretched out and suddenly returned to his normal size, as all of the other Boos had run away from their king.

Melody was about to rush in and attack King Boo, but the king had floated high into the air, clearly out of her reach. Although Melody tried jumping, she couldn't reach her opponent.

"_He's cheating!"_ Melody thought as she balled her fists in anger. _"I can't hit him when he's that high!"_

Suddenly, she felt her right hand feeling very warm. Looking at her fist, she saw that it was engulfed in a bright red fireball. Melody's eyes widened. She forgot all about the Firebrand! She actually had a projectile she could use once King Boo was out of reach!

She didn't have time to test the theory, as the rest of the Boos had come to their senses and reformed the giant King Boo. The giant fell from the sky and Melody had to dive out of the way to avoid getting crushed. The giant landed on the open pillar, destroying it and the light within it.

Melody rushed to another pillar before King Boo had time to rush her and felt around for a loose brick. Once she found one, she pulled it from the pillar, exposing a small beam of light, which struck King Boo between the eyes.

As King Boo recoiled from the light, Melody pulled a few more bricks, making a big enough light to make the Boos scatter, reverting King Boo to his normal size again. King Boo floated high above the arena, out of Melody's reach.

Or so he thought.

Melody pulled her hand back and created a fireball in it. Once it was big enough, Melody thrust her hand out in King Boo's direction, sending the fireball straight at him. The fireball struck King Boo in the side, finally damaging him. **[HIT]**

"Grrrr..." King Boo growled before he shouted. "Get back here, you morons!"

The rest of the Boos instantly complied with King Boo's order and rejoined, again turning the evil king into a giant. The giant ghost came crashing down on top of the pillar Melody had just used, destroying it.

King Boo suddenly spun around, sticking his tongue out as far as it could go, which was pretty far. Melody had to duck to avoid getting hit in the face. As soon as King Boo stopped spinning, Melody got up and charged over to another pillar and started to feel around for a loose brick.

Unfortunately, King Boo knew what she was up to. He charged at Melody, who had just seen him coming. Forgetting about the pillar, Melody ran out of the way, just as King Boo plowed into the pillar, destroying it and its light source. There were only a few pillars left now.

Melody saw that King Boo was preparing to spin again, so she ran away from him, towards another pillar. Using the precious seconds she had, Melody quickly felt around the pillar for a loose brick. She quickly found one, but held her hand over it and looked at King Boo, who had just stopped spinning.

King Boo saw Melody and started to charge at her, not expecting what she was up to. Once he was close enough, Melody ripped the brick from the pillar, shooting a beam of light into King Boo's forehead.

As the evil ghost recoiled in pain, Melody worked on getting more bricks out. She managed to get enough bricks out before King Boo recovered and allowed the light to shine on her evil opponent. King Boo shrieked in pain as all of the Boos raced away from their leader, reverting him to normal size.

Melody watched as King Boo again lifted off the ground, out of her reach. Again, he was wrong. Melody charged up her Firebrand and hurled another fireball, striking him in the side. **[HIT]**

"Gah!" King Boo shouted. "That's it, Melody! You're in for it now!"

The other Boos quickly raced back and merged with King Boo again, forming the giant. Like before, King Boo landed on the pillar Melody had just used, destroying it.

"I'll show you!" King Boo shouted as he shot both stubby arms into the air.

Melody watched in shock as lightning bolts rained down on the arena, instantly destroying all of the remaining pillars.

Except one.

Melody but her lip. She only had one chance to defeat King Boo now. King Boo stuck his tongue out and prepared to start spinning. Melody saw this and wisely ran around the king as he started spinning.

Melody charged towards the final pillar and felt around it, hoping that she'd find a loose brick. Once she found one, she exhaled in relief. Looking over her shoulder, she saw king Boo charging at her. Melody pulled the brick from the pillar and allowed the beam of light to strike King Boo in the eye.

As the evil ghost recoiled, Melody got to work, pulling more bricks from the pillar. Once she made a big enough hole, she allowed the light to pass her and strike King Boo. The evil king shrieked as the other Boos darted away, leaving King Boo half Melody's size.

King Boo raised into the air, and Melody wanted to make sure that it was the last time he did that. After charging up her Firebrand, Melody threw a ball of flames, this time striking King Boo in the face. **[HIT]**

"Noooo..." King Boo said as he slowly floated to the ground, collapsing. "I can't lose to Melody..."

Melody jumped in the air, clapping a couple of times with a wide smile. "Take THAT, King Boo!" She said.

Before Melody could do anything else, a white light blinded her.

**[END BATTLE. MELODY WINS.]**

**(Boo's Mansion)**

When Melody opened her eyes, she saw that she was back in Boo Mansion, everyone else surrounding her. King Boo was lying on the ground, practically unconscious, if that could even happen to a Boo.

"You did it, Melody!" Luigi said.

Melody exhaled in relief. "He almost killed me back there!"

"Someone quickly grab the crystal!" Bow, who was floating down from the third floor with Bootler by her side, cried. "He took it from me while he was interrogating me!"

Luigi and his team were about to rush at King Boo and grab the crystal, which they had noticed was underneath the king's crown. Unfortunately, before they had time, a shining energy had appeared, engulfing King Boo. When the energy faded, King Boo, crystal and all, was gone.

Luigi held his head in shame. "I don't believe it. They've got three of the crystals!" He said. "We have to get o the next one first!"


	6. Krazy Koopa

**Chapter six: Krazy Koopa**

**(Unknown Location)**

The mysterious figure sat in the shadows, again in deep thought. He found it hard to believe that King Boo would lose, especially with the added size. Still, he was lucky enough to bring back the Power Crystal, so that was the main thing. His group was now almost halfway through the search for the Power Crystals, but Luigi's team was proving to be quite annoying.

"Hey, boss!" The younger figure said as he walked into the room. "I'm just double-checking before I head out. The next crystal IS where you said it was, right?"

"Correct." The figure replied. "But I don't want any screw-ups on this one. I want you to take a couple of your men with you."

The younger figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a young Koopa with glasses and rainbow hair. "No prob, Bob!" Iggy laughed. "I'll have this one in the bag!"

"Good, but don't call me Bob."

**(Forever Forest)**

"Thank you so much for helping to save us from that monster!" Bootler said.

"Yeah. I'm just upset that we couldn't get the crystal back from him." Bow added.

All of the Boos were crowded around Luigi and the others, each thanking them. Fice T was hiding behind Waluigi's leg the whole time.

"If there's anything that we could do for you, please name it!" Bootler said.

Luigi scratched his chin. "Well, you could tell us where Igor is." He replied. "My team and I need to talk to him."

"Oh, certainly!" Bootler replied. "He should be downstairs in his shop."

"Thank you, Bootler." Luigi said as he and the rest of the team walked through the crowd of Boos and walked through a doorway.

"Why do we need to talk to Igor?" Goombaria asked.

"Remember what Russ T said?" Luigi quizzed. "Igor was one of the people that originally found the Power Crystal."

"Hey, that's right!" Sonar said. "If we can get the info out of Igor, we could get one of the Crystals before these villains do!"

Luigi and the others walked downstairs, into the Item Shop. Igor the Boo, who was coincidentally a hunchback, greeted them.

"Luigi!" Igor said. "Fancy seeing you all the way out here! What can I do for you?"

"We need you to tell us what you know about the Power Crystals." Luigi explained.

Igor's face fell. Looking around suspiciously, he floated to the doorway to make sure that no one was coming. Suddenly, he flew back to the group. He floated beside Luigi.

"Are we alone?" Igor asked.

"Yeah, we're alone." Luigi replied.

"Are you sure we're alone?"

"I'm sure we're alone!"

"Are you POSITIVE we're alone?"

"I'm positive we're alone!" Luigi almost shouted, clearly getting frustrated.

"Then who's that standing beside you?" Igor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"...That's you." Luigi replied.

"I know, but can I be trusted?"

The team stood in silence when Igor said that, each one of them having a giant sweatdrop over his or her head.

"This guy is a yo-yo." Waluigi whispered to Melody, who simply nodded.

"Look, we understand that you were among the group that originally broke the Power Crystal into seven fragments." Luigi explained. "An evil gang of villains is searching for these fragments, and they've already got three of the seven pieces."

Igor quickly became serious. "Well, why didn't you say so?" He asked. "So you're wondering where the crystal piece I've been keeping track of is, am I right?"

The team nodded, a few of them answering with a yes.

"Well, if my memory serves me right, which it does, it ended up in Sarasaland, in the hands of the royal family." Igor explained.

"How did they get their hands on it in the first place?" Melody asked.

"You got me. It was originally in Moleville, but I think a few bandits swiped it and dropped it in Sarasaland." Igor replied with a shrug.

"Well, at least we know where it is." Sonar said.

"Not so, my vertically-challenged friend." Igor said. "That was years ago. The king of Sarasaland said that he thought the crystal was so beautiful that he would give it to his first child."

Luigi's and Waluigi's eyes sprang open. "THAT'S DAISY!" They both cried.

"We have to save her before these jerks get her!" Luigi said.

"For once, I fully agree with you!" Waluigi added.

After thanking Igor, everyone charged back upstairs and bolted through the mansion, charging through the Boos. Fice T was never happier to get out a building in his life.

Luigi said that it would actually be quicker if they ran into the woods and took a wrong turn on purpose, as they would end up back in Toad Town right away. Everyone except Fice T, who suggested that they go through the sewers anyway, agreed as they quickly took off into the forest.

The team burst into the forest and looked around for the wrong turn. However, every path looked the same.

"Are you sure that you know where to go, Luigi?" Goombaria asked, starting to tremble.

"Well, no." Luigi said. "But once we see something distinctive, we'll be able to get out of here easily."

The team soon found out that that was easier said than done. Everywhere looked the same. The just couldn't find anything that looked distinctive. After a good while, everyone shot an evil look at Luigi.

"'Once we see something distinctive'." Waluigi mocked. "I'm tellin ya, that's the LAST time I listen to you."

"Isn't there someone living here that could help us get out of here?" Melody asked.

"Yeah. A hermit lives around here somewhere." Luigi said before sighing. "But he's usually guarding the entrance to prevent people from getting lost."

Everyone moaned. In the meantime, Fice T had seen something out of the corner of his eye that no one had noticed before: A path leading to the center of the island of shrubbery. He quickly turned back to the team.

"What about that path?" Fice T asked. "Maybe we can find a clue as to how to get out of here."

Although they thought that the possibility of that happening was a long shot, the team was running out of other ideas. The team walked up the path, expecting to find a clear area.

What they saw instead was the least of things that they expected to see. They saw a gigantic Piranha Plant lying on his side, snoring loudly, clearly asleep. Luigi and Waluigi stared at the creature with wide eyes.

"Isn't that Petey Piranha?" Luigi asked, pointing at the giant creature.

Waluigi simply nodded. "What would he be doing out here?"

Luigi shrugged. "I don't know, but if he came here, he should be able to know the way out." He suggested.

"I'll wake him up." Goombaria said as she approached the giant creature.

"Be careful, Goombaria." Luigi said. "Because if you wake him up wrong-"

"Wakey, wakey, wakey!" Goombaria said, jumping on Petey Piranha's giant stomach. Petey shot into a sitting position and roared, sending the small Goomba flying several feet back.

"-He'll get mad." Luigi finished.

Petey jumped into a standing position, showing everyone that he would clearly be at least a foot taller than Bowser. He roared angrily as he looked down at the cowering Goomba girl that woke him up.

"Um...Please don't hurt me...We just wanted to know if you could help us get out of here." Goombaria whimpered.

"Forget it, Goombaria." Luigi said, clearly worried about her. "Once he's mad, there's no use explaining!"

Goombaria gulped as she looked up at a severely ticked-off Petey Piranha glared at her and roared.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: PETEY PIRANHA – HEALTH: 3]**

Petey roared as he flapped his arms repeatedly. Somehow, he was doing it fast enough to lift himself off the ground. Goombaria watched as the giant creature lifted himself high above her head and flew directly overtop of her. Goombaria's eyes sprang open, realizing what Petey was about to do. She dove to the side as Petey came crashing down, creating a small shockwave that the young Goomba girl had to jump over to avoid.

Goombaria didn't have any time to recover, as Petey had again took to the air. Goombaria ran to safety as Petey hit the ground, again creating a shockwave. This time, Goombaria was far enough away that the shockwave didn't reach her.

"_He's not going to give me an easy time."_ Goombaria thought to herself. _"Come on, Goombaria! Think! How did Mario defeat this guy before?"_

The young Goomba was brought out of her thoughts when she saw Petey take to the air again. Goombaria dodged to the side to avoid the giant coming down to hit the ground.

Goombaria expected Petey to jump into the air again, but saw that her opponent was rearing back. Goombaria wondered what he was thinking of doing, but kept her distance to be safe.

Petey thrust his head forward and opened his mouth. Goombaria suddenly felt herself being pulled along the ground towards Petey's mouth. Goombaria eyes sprang open as she turned around and ran away from Petey, going slow even though she was running as fast as she could.

"_I need to find something that'll stop him from pulling me in!"_ Goombaria thought as she frantically looked around.

Suddenly, she spotted something sitting to the side: A round, thorny weed resting on the ground. As quick as she could Goombaria rushed over to the weed and ran behind it.

Pulling her foot back, Goombaria gave the weed a good kick, sending it straight into the vacuum pat leading to Petey's mouth. The weed went straight into Petey's mouth, making him accidentally swallow it.

Petey suddenly felt woozy after swallowing the weed. Spinning around a few times, he collapsed on his back.

Goombaria's eyes suddenly sprang open, as she quickly remembered how Mario defeated Petey in the past. Charging towards the collapsed monster, Goombaria leapt over his stomach, spun around, and dove headfirst into Petey's belly, making him lean forward in pain as the weed shot out of his mouth, landing nearby. **[HIT]**

Petey growled as he jumped to his feet, launching the small Goomba off of him. He quickly took to the air again.

Goombaria quickly ran to the side as Petey came crashing down, but she noticed that the shockwave that he created went further this time. Goombaria leapt over the shockwave as it passed under her.

Goombaria watched as Petey leapt into the air again, hovering right overtop of her. The small girl ran away as the giant creature hit the ground. Again, the shockwave was big enough for Goombaria to jump over.

The small Goomba frantically looked around for the weed again, as it was her only ticket for defeating Petey Piranha. She spotted it resting against a nearby tree. In the meantime, Petey had taken to the air again, and was about to come down. Goombaria quickly saw this and dodged, quickly jumping at the same time. Petey crashed onto the ground and the shockwave went straight underneath the airborne Goombaria.

As Goombaria landed on the ground, Petey started inhaling again. Goombaria ran her fastest to avoid being pulled into Petey's mouth. However, she found herself having an even harder time escaping the vacuum that was Petey's mouth. It seemed that the force was slightly more powerful than the first time around.

It took a little longer, but Goombaria managed to reach the weed that was sitting to the side. Running behind it, Goombaria pulled her foot back, spun it a few times and kicked the weed with all her might.

The weed flew straight into the vacuum path leading into Petey's mouth, and the giant creature didn't have enough time to stop inhaling. The weed went straight into his mouth and went down his throat. If Petey had any eyes, they'd be as wide as plates. Choking, Petey collapsed on his back again.

Goombaria too the chance and ran at the collapsed creature again, jumping into the air until she was over Petey's stomach. Spinning around, Goombaria plunged her head into the giant Piranha Plant's stomach, again damaging Petey. Like before, the weed shot from Petey's mouth, landing on the other side of the 'arena'. **[HIT]**

Again, Petey shot to his feet, launching Goombaria towards a bush. Goombaria jumped to her feet to watch Petey take to the air. Goombaria ran to the side, expecting Petey to come down fast. Instead, before coming down, Petey spun in midair. Slamming into the ground, an incredibly fast shockwave shot in all directions, and showed no sign of slowing down. Goombaira quickly leapt over the shockwave as it went all the way to the edge of the arena before finally fading.

While in midair, Goombaria quickly saw a second shockwave shooting at her. In order to avoid getting struck by it, Goombaria pulled off a desperate flutter jump, kicking the air like a Yoshi to gain more air. The jump was a success as the shockwave went underneath her and faded at the edge of the arena like the first one did.

As Goombaria landed on the ground, she saw Petey flapping his arms again, lifting himself off the ground. Goombaria dodged to the side as Petey hit the ground, again sending two large and fast shockwaves at her. Goombaria leapt off the ground and did another flutter jump to avoid both shockwaves.

Suddenly, Petey reared back, getting ready for another inhale. Goombaria knew that this would be the most powerful vacuum and decided to race towards the weed while she had the chance.

Petey aimed at Goombaria and opened his mouth. Goombaria was right about this being the most powerful vacuum, as she could get almost nowhere running against the pull of it. Luckily, she was close enough to the weed that she didn't need to run very far anyway.

As quick as she could, Goombaria raced around the weed and lined it up with Petey. Pulling her foot back, the small girl prepared to give the weed the most powerful kick she could dish out.

Punting the weed with all of her might, Goombaria sent it flying right into Petey's path. For the third time, the weed went into Petey's mouth and went down his throat. Trying to regain his breath, Petey collapsed on his back, choking.

Goombaria smirked, knowing that she had her opponent beat. Leaping over Petey's stomach, Goombaria performed her Headbonk again, planting herself into the giant creature's giant gut. Petey cough up the weed again as it bounced off a couple trees. **[HIT]**

Feeling a searing pain flowing through his stomach, Petey collapsed for good.

After jumping up and down twice, Goombaria spun around on her right foot with a wide smile on her face. "I can understand how Mario had such a hard time beating this guy." She said.

**[END BATTLE. GOOMBARIA WINS]**

**(Forever Forest)**

Everyone stared at Goombaria with wide eyes as she stood over Petey Piranha's defeated body. They were impressed at how Goombaria trounced the giant thing without a scratch.

Seeing the stares, Goombaria raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" She asked.

"We're just amazed at how you defeated him." Luigi explaied.

"How'd you do that flutter jump, anyway?" Waluigi asked, his own eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. I didn't even know Goombas could do that." Fice T explained, scratching his chin.

Goombaria tilted her head quickly, indicating a shrug. "Neither did I." She replied. "But I had to try SOMETHING to get away from those shockwaves."

Everyone suddenly heard a loud groan coming from behind Goombaria. Everyone looked to see Petey slowly getting to his feet.

Once Petey was on his feet, he found himself staring down at Goombaria, the one who defeated him. Petey instantly screamed and started flapping his arms, lifting himself off the ground. Everyone thought that he was getting ready for another shockwave, but they quickly noticed that he was actually flying away this time.

"Quick! Follow him!" Sonar said, jumping and pointing. "He'll lead us out of here!"

"Follow that flab!" Fice T shouted.

No one argued and took off back into the forest, trying to make sure that none of them lost sight of Petey.

The team found themselves racing through the forest, avoiding fights with Fuzzies or normal Piranha Plants. Petey was still flying overhead. Everyone was amazed at how quick they were getting through the forest, as they thought that they would take longer for sure. No one minded this, especially since Daisy was at stake.

Soon, the team found themselves coming out into the light, exiting the forest. They instantly recognized the scenery as that of Toad Town. Petey kept on flying away until he was out of sight.

Fice T quickly dropped to his knees and started kissing the ground, saying something about never going in there again. The rest of the team picked him up.

"We have to get to Daisy before these villains do!" Luigi said. "Come on! To Sarasaland!"

"Not so fast, Luigi." Melody said. "How do you know that Daisy is still in Sarasaland? Maybe she's somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom, doing her shopping."

"She has a point." Sonar added. "I've heard that Sarasaland doesn't have that big of a selection for stores."

"You guys got me there." Luigi replied. "Okay. We'll ask around and see if anyone's seen her."

The team walked into Toad Town, and looked around for someone that might've seen Daisy.

"Which store does she usually go to?" Melody asked.

"It's usually Harry's." Luigi replied, rubbing his chin.

Everyone quickly rushed over to the nearest store, which was indeed Harry's Item Shop. Luigi pushed open the door as everyone ran inside.

The mushroom man noticed everyone come in, and smirked. "Well, well, well. It seems like people are in a real hurry to buy my merchandise." Harry thought out loud.

"Harry, we need to know if Daisy came in here at all today." Luigi said, almost short of breath.

Harry's smirk vanished. "Uh...I believe she came in not too long ago and bought some mushrooms. Perhaps you'd like some?"

"Sorry, Harry." Goombaria replied. "This is an emergency."

Everyone quickly left the store, leaving a confused Harry behind. Outside, everyone thought of where Daisy would go after shopping at Harry's.

"Where does she usually go after the store?" Sonar asked.

"The Badge Shop!" Luigi replied. He knew this because he had accompanied Daisy on several of her shopping sprees. "Come on!"

Everyone quickly ran north, towards the main area of Toad Town, hoping to find Daisy before she finished shopping.

Reaching the main area, they expected to either see Daisy shopping or coming out of the Badge Shop. But what they saw instead was a scene that they all had feared:

Iggy Koopa, one of Bowser's kids, was cornering Daisy, accompanied by two normal Troopas. Iggy's two henchmen were holding onto Daisy's arms to prevent her from running off. The mushroom citizens were too scared to interfere, and all of the parents were holding onto their kids tightly.

Luigi mentally kicked himself. They were too late! He had to think of some way to attract attention so Daisy could run to safety. Telling everyone else to stay behind, Luigi quickly approached the scene.

"Three Koopas against one woman?" Luigi asked out loud, getting the attention of Daisy, Iggy and the two Troopas. "Not exactly a fair fight, unless that woman happens to be Samus Aran, in which case you're history."

"Oh yeah? C'mon!" The two Troopas taunted as they let go of Daisy, approached Luigi and put their fists up.

Daisy wisely took this opportunity to make a run for it. Unfortunately, Iggy saw her run off to the west side of Toad Town.

Iggy furiously looked at his henchmen and pointed in the direction Daisy ran. "You buffoons! Don't just stand there! AFTER HER!" He shouted. The two Troopas quickly complied chasing after the fleeing princess.

Luigi started running after the two Troopas, but was cut off when something shot beside him, striking a tree, creating a small explosion.

"Where do you think YOU'RE going, plunger-face?" Iggy asked with a smirk. His scepter, which had fired the shot, had smoke rising from it.

"I was...Uh...Just going to see if the store had any more Shroom Cake." Luigi replied. "Hey, do you want some?"

Iggy didn't answer. He simply fired another shot from his scepter, engulfing both he and Luigi in a bright light.

**(Nth Dimension)**

When Luigi could finally see again, he saw that he was no longer in Toad Town. Instead, he was standing in a void that fit the description that the others said given. This was the Nth Dimension.

Luigi quickly looked around, noticing that he was standing on a huge, flat, circular platform. Looking up, Luigi saw several platforms floating in midair, all at different heights. Iggy was standing in the dead center of the platform, smirking.

"Ready for the fight of your life, buddy?" Iggy asked, pulling a beaker of formula from behind his back.

Iggy placed the beaker to his mouth and downed a mouthful, making sure that he didn't drink too much. Once he swallowed, Iggy quickly placed the beaker back where he got it.

The young Koopa Kid laughed insanely as he suddenly started growing. Luigi watched in shock as Iggy kept on growing, his laugh becoming deeper with every several feet he grew. When Iggy finally stopped growing, he was at least a hundred feet tall.

Iggy looked down at Luigi and smirked evilly. "Intimidated yet, little man?" Iggy asked in a deep, DEEP voice.

Luigi shook his head. "Are you kidding? I'm a Mario Bro.! Let's do this!"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: IGGY KOOPA – HEALTH: 3]**

Iggy reared back and spat a huge ball of fire at Luigi. Luigi ran to the side, avoiding the ball of flames. Luigi didn't have time to rest though, as Iggy quickly fired another fireball at him. Luigi kept running as Iggy fired yet another fireball. Luigi quickly realized that Iggy was going to keep throwing fireballs until something else happened.

Luigi knew that the only way he could attack the giant Iggy was to attack the head, but he had no way of reaching him. All of the platforms were too high for even Waluigi to jump to. Luigi decided to keep avoiding Iggy's fireballs until he did something different.

Iggy suddenly stopped launching fireballs and stayed still for a second. Luigi was wondering what the giant kid was doing, but soon found out, as Iggy pulled his right hand back, getting ready for a slap. Luigi eyes sprang open as he dove to the side, allowing Iggy's palm to strike the concrete platform.

A thought suddenly came to Luigi's head. Deciding to try it out, Luigi jumped on Iggy's fingers, somehow making him spring high into the air. Grabbing the opportunity, Luigi steered himself towards the nearest platform, landing on it. Iggy quickly pulled his giant hand from the ground.

Luigi saw Iggy rearing back again, preparing for another wave of fireballs. As soon as Iggy fired his first fall of flames, Luigi jumped to the next platform. However, as it turned out, Iggy was aiming for the platform rather than Luigi. As soon as the fireball struck the platform, it was instantly set ablaze, rendering it off-limits for Luigi. The green-clad plumber realized that he had to keep moving if he wanted to reach Iggy's head.

Luigi quickly saw that every time he jumped to a different platform, Iggy was setting the one he was just at on fire. Luigi kept pressing on, jumping higher and higher with every platform, determined to defeat Iggy and save Daisy. He could only hope that some of the team rushed after those two Troopas that went after Daisy.

Soon, Luigi was on one of the top platforms, at the same level as Iggy's giant head. He quickly realized that Iggy wasn't setting this platform on fire. It was probably too high up for him to reach. The only problem was that the gap between the platform and Iggy's head was too far for Luigi to jump. Luigi had to think of some way to reach Iggy's head.

An idea suddenly came to Luigi's head. It was perfect!

Luigi crouched low, his body pulsating with strange energy. Iggy raised an eyebrow, wondering what Luigi was doing.

"GREEN MISSILE!" Luigi shouted as an explosion erupted under his feet, rocketing the green-clad plumber headfirst into Iggy's forehead. Iggy screamed in pain. **[HIT]**

"Where'd he learn THAT one?" Iggy thought aloud.

When Luigi finished the Green Missile, he knew that he couldn't reach the platforms anymore, and let himself fall back to the ground. He quickly noticed that all of the platforms Iggy had set on fire were now out.

Luigi saw that Iggy was about to start another fireball frenzy so he started running, expecting this wave to be faster and more powerful.

He was right. Not only were the fireballs coming at Luigi faster than before, but Iggy was firing them faster as well. Luigi quickly saw that every fireball was setting a larger area on fire than the first wave. Luigi waited impatiently for Iggy so do another Slap Down attack.

Iggy fired fireball after fireball, and was getting frustrated that none of them were hitting Luigi. He was so mad that he felt like hitting something. Without thinking, Iggy pulled his giant hand back, preparing to slam it down on Luigi's puny head.

Luigi smirked when he saw this. Running to the side, he allowed Iggy's palm to strike the concrete he was standing on. The attack took a good amount of energy from the Koopa Kid, reducing him to breathing heavily to try and get some energy back.

In the meantime, Luigi leapt into the air and jumped on Iggy's huge fingers, springing him upwards. The heroic plumber steered himself towards the nearest platform and landed on it.

Iggy saw Luigi standing on one of the platforms and started to panic, as he knew that Luigi knew how to defeat him. He quickly pulled his hand from the ground and reared back to start spitting fireballs again.

Luigi saw the first fireball coming at him and quickly jumped up to the next platform. The ball of flames struck the platform Luigi was just on, igniting it instantly. Luigi kept on jumping higher, managing to avoid all of the fireballs like he had done with the last round. He quickly realized that this time the fireballs were slightly closer to hitting him every time he jumped to the next platform.

Even though there were several close calls, Luigi made it to the top after jumping to at least ten platforms. Luigi perched himself on the platform as Iggy stopped spitting fireballs. Luigi crouched low as the strange electric energy pulsated all around him.

"GREEN MISSLE!" Luigi shouted as he rocketed straight at Iggy, striking him again in the forehead. **[HIT]**

"Gah!" Iggy shouted in pain as he recoiled slightly. "Oh, boy! You're in for it now, greenie!"

Luigi again let himself fall to the ground, landing on his feet. Looking up at the giant Koopa Kid, Luigi saw that Iggy was about to start fireball wave number three. Luigi predicted that this fireball wave would be the fastest and most powerful, so he turned and started running.

As it turned out, Luigi was right. Iggy spat fireballs faster than ever before, making them go faster than wave number two. Whenever they struck the ground, the fireballs set an even bigger area on fire. Luigi was so close that he could feel the heat of the flames every time a fireball struck the ground.

Luigi sweated as he continued running from Iggy's fireballs. He could only hope that Iggy would do the slap soon.

Luckily, his wish was granted. As soon as Iggy stopped spitting fireballs, he pulled his hand back to attempt another slap.

Luigi sighed in relief as soon as he saw Iggy pulling his hand back. Running to the side, Luigi avoided the giant hand as it struck the ground. As Iggy paused to try and regain his energy, Luigi jumped on his fingers, which launched him high into the air. Luigi again steered himself to land on the nearest platform.

Iggy started to freak out when he saw Luigi on the platform. He didn't have much energy left and Luigi knew how to beat him. He furiously spat more fireballs in an attempt to knock Luigi off the platforms.

Luigi saw that Iggy was determined to defeat him, as the fireballs were even closer to touching him this time. Every time Luigi jumped to another platform, he barely escaped being engulfed in flames.

The green hero was quickly relieved when he found himself at the top platform. He had made it, but barely. Crouching low, he prepared for the finishing blow.

"GREEN MISSLE!"

Luigi rocketed off the platform and planted himself in Iggy's forehead for the third and final time. **[HIT]**

"No..." Iggy moaned as he started shrinking back to his normal size. "...I was so...Close..."

Luigi folded his arms and looked down at the fallen Koopa Kid, who was now back to his normal size. "You Koopa Kids just don't know when to call it quits, huh?" He asked.

Before Luigi had time to do anything else, a white light blinded him.

**[END BATTLE. LUIGI WINS.]**

**(Mushroom Kingdom)**

When the light cleared, Luigi saw that he was back in Toad Town, Iggy's collapsed figure laying at his feet. He saw that all of the villagers were still there, as was Goombaria and Sonar. Fice T, Melody and Waluigi were not there. Luigi knew that they had gone after the Troopas in an attempt to save Daisy.

Luigi quickly grabbed Iggy's barely-conscious figure and hauled him to his feet.

Luigi pointed at Iggy and narrowed his eyes. "You know, Iggy? I don't really have anything against you tuning into a giant. I just think you should do it somewhere more appropriate. Say...Giant Land?"

Sticking two fingers up Iggy's nostrils, Luigi gave a mighty throw, sending the Koopa Kid flying far, far away. Screaming, Iggy sailed over a distant mountain and fell into a Warp Pipe on the other side.

"LUIGI! HELP!"

Luigi eyes widened, instantly recognizing the voice that came out of nowhere. Spinning in the direction of the voice, he saw two evil Paratroopas flying away, carrying a tied-up Daisy. The brunette princess screamed desperately out to him.

"DAISY!" Luigi screamed. Unfortunately, he knew that there was nothing he could do. Poor Daisy the already too far away.

He quickly saw Fice T, Melody and Waluigi walking over to him, clutching his or her head.

"What the heck happened?" Luigi asked desperately.

"You remember that white orb that Bandit had?" Waluigi quizzed.

Luigi's face fell even further. "Don't tell me they had one too." He said.

"They had one too." Melody explained.

"I asked you not to tell me that." Luigi sighed.


	7. Strange Shyguy

**Chapter seven: Strange Shyguy**

**(Unknown Location)**

The evil leader behind Daisy's kidnapping was having mixed feelings. In every attempt, his team had been successful in taking the Power Crystals, and had even kidnapped Daisy as a bonus, but this 'Luigi' and his team was doing so well that he thought that his plan could end up in failure. He had to make sure that his henchmen got this Power Crystal way before Luigi could.

The figure looked over his shoulder as he waited for his next minion to come in. Sitting behind him in the dark was their princess prisoner, Daisy, tightly bound to a chair. A strip of thick tape was smoothed over her mouth to prevent her from shouting insults. She narrowed her eyes at the evil figure and muttered something under her breath, which turned out to be muffled anyway.

"I must admit, your boyfriend is doing surprisingly well." The leader said as he walked over to Daisy. "However, my next minion will surely slow him down. He has never lost a fight before."

On the outside, Daisy looked unafraid, but on the inside, she was horrified. She couldn't believe that Luigi was doing all of this for her, and was scared that he could be defeated at the hands of this so-called undefeated minion.

"Boss!"

The leader turned around and saw the short figure scurry into the room. "I hope that you know what you're doing. This green plumber is more powerful than he looks." He said.

The short figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a Shyguy in a beige cloak, complete with an explorer's hat. "Fear not, fearless leader! Congo Quint has never lost a fight!"

**(Mushroom Kingdom)**

"Now what do we do?" Melody asked.

"Yeah." Waluigi added. "These jerks have Daisy now, and we only have three Power Crystals to find before they do."

"We need to find another one of the original explorers." Luigi replied. "The question is, who here is old enough to actually BE one of the explorers."

Everyone scratched their heads (well, except for Goombaria, who simply pondered), all of them in deep thought. Suddenly, everyone except Melody gave an answer in unison.

"Merlon."

**(Merlon's House)**

"You simply can't be serious." Merlon said as he shook his head. "What makes you think that I would know where this 'Power Crystal' is?"

"Well, we just thought that you would be old enough to be one of these explorers that originally found the crystal in the first place." Fice T replied.

Merlon snorted. "If you're done with these wild stories, could you all please leave?" He asked.

"Look Merlon, if you're not one of the explorers, then that's fine! We made a mistake!" Luigi exclaimed. "But could you at least find out who IS one of the explorers? Daisy's at stake, and I'm willing to do anything to ensure her safety!"

Merlon stood in silence and, much to everyone's surprise, started chuckling. "My boy, the next crystal is within the village on Yoshi's Island."

Everyone froze and stared at the wizard with unbelieving glares.

"You mean that you were lying to us?" Sonar cried.

Merlon pointed a finger at the young Shyguy. "I wanted to make sure that you were doing this quest for the right reasons. As it turns out, Luigi is willing to do this for the love of his life." Waluigi cringed at that remark, slightly hurt. "That's all the proof I need."

"Well, now that we know where the crystal is, how do we intend on getting there when that giant tuna isn't at the docks anymore?" Fice T asked.

"Whale." Waluigi corrected.

"No need to worry, my friends." Merlon insisted. "Using my magic, I'll teleport all of us there myself. That is, if you don't mind."

Luigi shook his head. "No, I don't think we'd mind." He said. "Just as long as we get there quicker."

"Don't worry. This shall be faster than a trip through a warp pipe." Merlon replied as he started to focus his energy.

Suddenly, everyone was engulfed in a bright light, and when it cleared, Merlon's house was empty.

**(Yoshi's Island)**

Even though Merlon had said that it would be quick, no one expected it to be as quick as it was. Before anyone knew it, they were all standing on the beaches of Yoshi's Island, just outside of the village. Everyone turned to Merlon, who, despite wearing a hood that covered his face, was smiling.

"When you find the crystal, come back here and I'll teleport us back." Merlon instructed. "Good luck. All of you."

Bidding farewell to Merlon, everyone walked down the beach for a short trip to Yoshi's Village. Upon entering the village, everyone looked around. Yoshies of many colours were all over the village. There were even a few colours that Luigi didn't know even existed.

A particular Green Yoshi, the same one that has been a friend of Mario for years, spotted Luigi and rushed over to him, followed by a female, pink dinosaur with a red bow on her head.

"Luigi! What a surprise!" Yoshi greeted, although in the Yoshi language that only Luigi, Mario, Peach and a select few others could understand. "How have things been?"

Luigi sighed. "Not good." He said. "Daisy's been kidnapped and we need to find a special crystal that's somewhere on this island before this group of villains do."

Birdo gasped, as she also had a language that only a select few could understand. "That's terrible! I hope that you find what you're looking for. If you fail, Daisy will die!"

Luigi nodded. "I know."

Everyone else on the team stared at the trio strangely.

"Uh...Did you get that?" Waluigi asked Melody.

"No." Melody shook her head.

"We were wondering if you guys had seen anything that might look unusual lately." Luigi said. "Anything could be a clue."

Yoshi pondered this for a few seconds. "Well, now that you mention it, Toad and Toadette are currently visiting the village to pay us a visit. Toad even found a shiny thing hidden within one of our houses." He shrugged. "Because we didn't have any sort of use for it, we let him keep it. Anyway, the two of them decided to take a stroll through the jungle."

Luigi eyes snapped open as he grabbed his head. "GOOD GRIEF!" He shouted.

**(Jungle)**

Toad and Toadette strolled through the jungle, looking around at the pleasant sights around them. It had been such a long time since Toad had come to Yoshi's Island, and decided to bring his girlfriend along, as this was her first time on the island.

"Toad, I can't believe I never knew about this place!" Toadette said as she looked around in awe. "It's all so beautiful!"

Toad smirked. "Not as beautiful as you."

Toadette blushed as she stopped walking to look at Toad. "Toad, I can't thank you enough for bringing me along." She planted a kiss on his cheek and smiled. "You're so sweet."

Toad blushed as he rubbed the spot gently where Toadette had just kissed him. He quickly reached into his vest. "Toadette, I have something I'd like to give you."

The pink and purple girl mushroom raised an eyebrow, wondering what Toad could have. Her eyes widened when he pulled a sparkling, purple gem from his vest, small enough to wrap his fingers around it. "This." He said as he held out his hand.

Toadette gasped when she saw the gem sparkle from the sun. "Oh, Toad! It's so gorgeous!" She exclaimed.

The male mushroom nodded. "Exactly why I think you should have it." He insisted. "If you wear it as a necklace, it'll make you look even more beautiful than before."

Toadette suddenly felt her eyes start to water as she threw her arms around her boyfriend and embraced him in love. Toad smiled and returned the hug.

Suddenly, both mushroom citizens heard a strange noise coming from behind. When they turned around, what they saw was something that gave them a total shock.

"W-What in the world are those things?" Toadette asked, slowly backing away.

Although scared, Toad quickly hardened his face and stood in front of Toadette bravely. "Get out of here, Toadette! I'll take care of these things!"

"But Toad!" His girlfriend insisted.

"Please! For both of our sakes, run for it!"

Although hesitant at leaving Toad behind, Toadette, clutching the crystal Toad had just given her, charged further into the jungle.

**(Yoshi's Island)**

Luigi and the rest of the team dashed through the jungle, brushing branches out of their way as they went.

"I hope we find those two before the villains do!" Goombaria said. "We don't want to endanger any more people!"

"Don't worry, Goombaria." Luigi said as he looked around. "They left the village not that long ago. They SHOULD be nearby."

Luigi ran past a tree, pushing a branch aside. After Luigi let go of it, the branch swung back and struck Melody in the face. Rubbing her nose, Melody pushed the branch aside and ran past it. The branch in turn struck Waluigi in the face. Luckily, Goombaria, Sonar and Fice T were too short to be hit.

The team quickly came upon an intersection that went three ways. The team looked around.

"The question is which way did they go." Sonar stated.

As the rest of the team discussed on which path to take, Goombaria spotted a Heart Flower sitting aside. She walked over to it and stared at it.

"Excuse me, but did you, by any chance, see two mushroom people walk by here a few minutes ago?" Goombaria asked politely.

The Heart Flower nodded as it stuck out its tongue and pointed down the eastern path.

"Thank you kindly." Goombaria said as she walked back to the team. "They went down the eastern path."

Everyone stared at her. "How do you know that?" Fice T asked.

"The flower told me." The Goomba girl said with a smile.

Waluigi smacked his forehead. "Just what we need. Talking flowers."

**(Later…)**

Although confused at Goombaria's story, everyone decided to go through the eastern path and see where it led them. They had been walking for a good while now, but so far, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"Are you sure about this flower story, Goombaria?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah. The flower pointed down this path with its tongue." Goombaria nodded.

Another couple of minutes passed. Everyone was just about ready to turn around and take a different route, but Goombaria urged them to go on.

"I don't care about what some stupid flower told you!" Waluigi snapped. "We've been walking along this jungle path for a while now and we haven't seen anything!"

"Wait a minute." Luigi shushed. "I think I hear something."

Curiously, everyone walked forward. As they walked, they could hear the sound of bongos being played. When the music got even louder, Luigi sneaked behind a bush, signaling everyone to do the same.

When the team looked beyond the bushes, their eyes widened at the scene before them. They were staring at a tribe of strange-looking Shyguys, all of which looked like Indians. The chief of the tribe was dressed in a dark cloak while the rest were dressed in light cloaks. What they saw next was what surprised them the most. Toad was standing in the middle of a ring of dancing Tribal Guys, tied to a stake. It looked like they were getting ready to start a fire.

"We have to stop them!" Goombaria whispered. "That's Toad in there!"

"And stop them we shall!" Luigi whispered. "Listen, while I distract them, you guys get Toad out of there."

Everyone nodded as they split up, Luigi going through the bush while everyone else went around them.

The chief Tribal Guy saw the green-clad man walking over and ordered his men to stop dancing. "Who are you, white man?" He asked.

"That's of no concern." Luigi replied. "But that's my friend you're about to burn. Let him go."

The chief thought this over until nodding. "Very well. We release friend."

Toad instantly started struggling. "Luigi, don't believe them! These guys will just burn you too!" He cried.

The chief glared daggers at the mushroom boy. "Mushroom give away plan!" He growled angrily as he stood up and marched over to his tribe. "Now, we destroy both of them!"

Raising their spears into the air, all of the other Tribal Guys charged at Luigi, letting out an insane battle cry.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: SHYGUY TRIBE – CHIEF'S HEALTH: 3]**

Luigi quickly found himself being swarmed by Tribal Guys. The insane, face- painted Shyguys lunged at him from all directions and started leaping around to allow confusion so Luigi couldn't get to the chief.

Luigi pulled his fist back and delivered a hard punch, knocking several Tribal Guys back. Unfortunately, they all bounced back instantly as if nothing had happened. Luigi continued his onslaught, but no matter how many punches he dished out, none of the Tribal Guys would become defeated.

"_What the heck's going on?"_ Luigi thought. _"No matter how much I attack these guys, they won't go down!"_

The green-clad plumber looked through the crowd of Tribal Guys and saw the chief running around, blending in with the entire tribe.

A light bulb suddenly went on inside Luigi's head. _"The chief! Maybe I should aim for the chief!"_ He thought.

Although he had difficulty spotting the chief because his cloak was only slightly darker than the rest of the tribe, Luigi spotted him. Charging headfirst at the chief, Luigi avoided the attacks coming from the rest of the tribe.

The chief saw Luigi coming and pulled up a hatchet to prepare for an attack, but it was already too late. The green hero dove at the chief and tackled him to the ground.

"White man find chief!" One of the Tribal Guys cried. "Run for it!" All of the Tribal Guys quickly ran from the battlefield, leaving Luigi and the chief.

The chief sighed. "Tribe loyal, but so much cowardly." He looked up at Luigi. "We settle this, white man!"

The chief charged at Luigi, swinging his hatchet like a madman. Luigi ran to the side as the chief ran past. Luigi tried to counter-attack, but the chief was running too fast.

"_He's fast for such a little guy."_ Luigi thought. _"There has to be some way to make him stop."_

Looking around quickly, Luigi couldn't see anything that could help him. The only things in the area were a bunch of small trees and thick stumps.

Luigi's eyes widened, realizing what he had just seen. He decided that he didn't have much to lose, so he decided to give it a try. Looking at the chief, Luigi saw the small Shyguy charging at him, still swinging his hatchet.

The green plumber stood in front of a stump and waited for the chief to come close enough. Once he had thought that he had waited long enough, Luigi ran to the side, allowing the chief to strike the stump, lodging the hatchet in it. The chief quickly started pulling on the hatchet in an attempt to pry it from the stump.

Luigi, seeing the chief struggle, took his chance and charged his Thunderhand. Running up beside the chief, Luigi thrust his hand out, unleashing a fully-charged jolt of electricity at the chief. **[HIT]**

"Ugg!" The chief shouted in pain as he shook of the effects of the Thunderhand.

In an instant, all of the Tribal Guys in the tribe leapt back into the battlefield and started swarming Luigi again.

Luigi started swinging his fists wildly to keep the other Tribal Guys at bay as he searched the battlefield for the chief. This time was much harder to see the chief because all of the Tribal Guys were bouncing all over the arena even more, a lot of them jumping into Luigi's path of sight.

The green hero suddenly spotted the chief running around a good ways away. In the meantime, two Tribal Guys had grabbed hold of his arms.

"We have him!" One of the Tribal Guys said in triumph.

Luigi clenched his teeth as he charged through the battlefield, towards the chief, dragging the two Tribal Guys along for the ride. Luigi suddenly stopped and thrust his hands forward, launching both Tribal Guys into a group of others, sending them all to the ground.

As the group was starting to get up, Luigi used what little time he had to run towards the chief and tackle him to the ground.

The rest of the Tribal Guys screamed in terror as they fled the scene, again leaving Luigi alone with the chief.

The chief growled. "I'd scalp them if they had any."

Against the odds, the chief drew the hatchet again and charged at Luigi.

While avoiding the chief, Luigi was frantically looking for something that the chief could get the hatchet stuck in. He quickly spotted a small, thick tree not too far away. After avoiding a swing from the chief, Luigi charged towards the tree and stood in front of it, waiting for the chief to strike.

The chief, not realizing what Luigi had planned, charged at the green man and swung the hatchet horizontally. Luigi dodged the attack and ran to the side as the hatchet struck the tree, getting stuck again.

As the chief started pulling on the hatchet, Luigi charged the Thunderhand again. Once fully charged, Luigi engulfed the chief in electricity for a second time. **[HIT]**

"You mess with wrong tribe, white man!" The chief shouted as he ripped the hatchet from the tree.

The rest of the tribe took this as a signal and charged into the battlefield again, swarming Luigi's sight and guarding the chief.

While continually fighting off the Tribal Guys, Luigi couldn't believe how hard it was finding the chief. That, and the rest of the tribe were becoming an even bigger annoyance.

While looking past the continually-bouncing Tribal Guys, Luigi suddenly spotted the chief not too far away. Unfortunately, several Tribal Guys leapt on top of him, forming a dog pile.

"We have white man this time!" One of the Tribal Guys said confidently.

However, the Tribal Guys had all underestimated Luigi and his strength. Luigi struggled to his feet, all the while with seven Tribal Guys stacked on top of his back. Suddenly, Luigi started spinning, catching them all off guard. They all flew off Luigi's back, landing elsewhere.

Luigi charged towards the chief, but saw several more Tribal Guys standing in front of him. Luigi narrowed his eyes as he crouched low, becoming engulfed in a strange, pulsating energy.

"GREEN MISSILE!"

Luigi launched himself at the wall of Tribal Guys headfirst, plowing through them. All of the Tribal Guys Luigi hit were sent into the air. Luigi continued flying until he struck the chief. Again, the Tribal Guys all fled in terror.

The chief didn't even bother to mention the incompetence of his tribe as he whipped the hatchet out again.

"BURY THE HATCHET!" The chief screamed as he charged at Luigi and leapt into the air.

Luigi realized what the chief was about to do, do he ran to the side and allowed the chief to strike the ground. Luigi quickly found a stump and stood in front of it.

The chief ran at Luigi, swinging his hatchet normally. Luigi dodged the blow, allowing the hatchet to strike the stump, becoming wedged in it.

Luigi pulled his fist back and activated the Thunderhand as the chief tried desperately to pull the hatchet from the stump. However, he wasn't quick enough, as a third jolt of electricity went through him after becoming the victim of the Thunderhand for the third time. **[HIT]**

"Nooo..." The chief said as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. "We are...best tribe in...jungle..."

Luigi folded his arms and looked down at the fallen chief. "You guys are the weirdest bunch I've ever met!" He said.

**[END BATTLE. LUIGI WINS]**

Looking away from the fallen chief, Luigi stared at the stake Toad had been tied to. Like he had instructed, the rest of the team had freed the mushroom retainer. Luigi walked over to him.

Seeing Luigi coming, Toad brightened. "Thanks for showing up when you did, Luigi! These creeps were about to toast me for a feast." He shuddered at the thought, followed by a few members of the team, mainly the younger ones.

"No problem, Toad." Luigi said. "In fact, my team and I need to ask you a question."

"Shoot." Toad replied.

"Did you find a strange crystal in Yoshi Village?" Luigi asked.

Toad nodded. "Yeah. I found it hidden in the Item Shop, and the Yoshies said that I could keep it. I gave it to Toadette as a present."

Everyone eyes sprang open when Toad had said that. Toad noticed this. "What's wrong?"

"Toad, that crystal is a Power Crystal!" Goombaria cried. "A group of villains are looking high and low for those!"

Toad suddenly realized what he had done. His eyes sprang open in horror. "I GAVE IT TO TOADETTE!" He cried.

"Quick! Where is she?" Melody asked.

"She ran off further into the jungle to get help!" Toad replied.

**(Big Tree)**

Toadette ran as fast as her little feet could carry her as she tore through the jungle, Toad's gift firmly in her grip. She was searching for someone that could help them, and had heard that someone named 'Raphael Raven' was living in the jungle, willing to help those in need.

Toadette suddenly burst out of the jungle and into a clearing. She looked up in awe, as a giant tree stood in front of her, standing at least a hundred feet high.

"This must be it!" Toadette said as she rushed into a doorway on the side of the tree.

The mushroom girl found herself running up a seemingly endless flight of stairs that was going up the inside of the hollow tree. Although she was already tired, Toadette knew that unless she found help, Toad was in danger, which was what gave her the extra energy.

Soon enough, Toadette found herself at the top of the tree. She slowly walked outside the tree and found herself on a giant branch. What surprised her was the fact that there was a giant raven sitting in a nest, sound asleep. Toadette realized that this must be Raphael Raven himself.

Toadette quietly walked over to the sleeping raven and gently poked him. "Um...Excuse me?"

The giant raven's eyes sprang open, then narrowed. "WHO DARES WAKE ME UP?" He bellowed, making Toadette fall back in fear.

Sitting on the branch, Toadette fearfully looked up at the giant raven. "Um...I did." She said meekly. "I am looking for Raphael Raven. W-Would you happen to be him?"

The glare in Raphael's eyes dimmed as he calmed down. "I am. What business do you have here?" He asked. "And furthermore, how did you get all the way up my tree in the first place?"

"I took the stairs." Toadette replied. "Listen, my name is Toadette, and my boyfriend is out in the middle of the jungle fighting off a tribe of Shyguys for my sake. Could you please help him?" She pleaded.

Raphael sat in silence. "Normally, I would question his ability to fight, but it doesn't matter. This tribe of Shyguys is the most violent in the jungle and would be able to wear anyone down in minutes, with the exception of the Mario brothers of course." He leapt front the nest and landed on the branch, showing his gigantic feet. "I shall go ahead and help him. Shall I give you a lift back down to the ground?"

Toadette nodded. "Thank you very much, mister Raven." She said gratefully as she clambered onto Raphael's back.

Raphael took to the air and floated down towards the ground, his passenger clinging onto him for dear life. Soon enough, his feet touched the ground.

After Toadette got off of him, Raphael looked at her. "You stay here and wait for my return." He instructed. Toadette nodded furiously. "Just tell me what he looks like and what direction he is and I'll be off.

"He's got a mushroom head like mine only it's white with red dots. He's wearing a blue vest and white pants. He's exactly my height." Toadette explained. She pointed down the path she came from. "He should be that way.

Raphael nodded. "Fear not. I'll return shortly." With that, the giant raven turned around and flew away.

Toadette watched Raphael fly off until he was out of sight. She sighed, hoping that Toad would be still safe by the time Raphael found him.

Before Toadette could do anything else, something was thrown over her. It didn't take long for her to notice that it was a sack. Toadette tried screaming, but the sack over her was muffling anything she shouted.

"Triumph!" An unfamiliar voice gloated.

Toadette suddenly felt herself being picked up and being slung over someone shoulder. As much as she tried to struggle, she couldn't break free.

**(Jungle)**

The team, Toad included, rushed through the jungle, everyone calling out Toadette's name at different times.

"She couldn't have gone THAT far!" Toad said, clearly worried for Toadette's safety. "We have to find her before anything happens!"

"Don't worry, Toad." Luigi assured. "We'll find her."

"Hello down there!"

Everyone, hearing the voice, looked upwards into the sky. They saw a giant raven floating down from the sky until he touched the ground.

"Who are you?" Waluigi asked.

"Raphael Raven." Goombaria replied. "Goombario told me about him."

"Well, what's he doing all the way out here?" Sonar asked.

Raphael scanned Toad over. "Are you 'Toad'?" He asked.

Toad nodded. "I am."

"Your girlfriend was looking for you." Raphael stated.

Toad's eyes snapped open. "You saw Toadette? Where is she?" He asked frantically.

"She's waiting at my tree, waiting for me to return with you." He explained. "I'll show you all the way to my tree."

Although everyone was surprised at the display of kindness, they all thanked Raphael as he walked ahead of them, leading them in the direction of his tree.

The team continued walking for a good five minutes. Every time they encountered any enemies, Raphael's size made the baddies run in fear. Soon enough, the team had walked into the clearing containing Raphael's tree. Everyone looked around, but Toadette was no where in sight.

"Toadette?" Toad called out, running around the area. "Toadette? Where are you?"

"That's strange." Raphael said as he looked around. "She told me that she'd wait here."

"Well, where could she be?" Melody asked.

"...Oh, no..."

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and saw Fice T kneeling down beside some tracks on the ground. Everyone walked over to him.

"What is it, Fice T?" Luigi asked.

"Look at this. These tracks, a mushroom person's by the look of it, are standing around here." Fice T pointed out. "But if you look over here, the tracks become skid marks and have pushed up some dirt, indicating a struggle." He then pointed behind the tracks. "And look. These tracks, I'm guessing from a Shyguy, are both light and spread out, showing that this person sneaked up on the mushroom person. Plus, there are no more tracks from the mushroom person, but the Shyguy tracks are walking away into the jungle."

Everyone's eyes widened, realizing what this meant. "You you're saying that- " Goombaria breathed.

"Yes. Toadette was standing around after Raphael left, when a Shyguy sneaked up behind her and threw a sack over her. She was then picked up and was carried off into the jungle." Fice T sighed as he stood up.

Toad's mouth went dry and his lip started shaking. Suddenly, he buried his face in his hands. "Th-This is all my fault!" He accused himself. "If I hadn't given her that crystal, then this wouldn't have happened!"

"Don't worry, Toad." Fice T said. "The tracks are fresh. If we follow them, we'll find Toadette quickly."

Although confused at Fice T's sudden change in attitude, they all agreed and walked into the jungle, leaving Raphael behind at the tree, wishing them luck.

Everyone rushed through the jungle, following the Shyguy tracks in hopes of finding Toadette before anything happened.

Surprisingly, Toad was running faster than anyone. Everyone figured that it was because he was so worried about Toadette.

Soon the team arrived at a clearing, where the tracks ended. Luigi directed them towards a bush and they all hid behind it. Everyone looked at the scene that lay before them.

Toadette was tied up and dangling from a tree branch, her arms tied behind her back and her feet tied together. Standing on the ground, looking up at her, was a Shyguy in a beige cloak, complete with an explorer's hat. He was holding the crystal that Toad had given Toadette in his hands.

"You'll never get away with this!" Toadette shouted. "Once Raphael returns to the tree with Toad, they'll see that I'm not there!"

"You say that like I should be worried, my dear." The Shyguy said. "Congo Quint is not afraid of someone like Raphael Raven."

Toadette gulped. "What are you going to do with me?" She asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Quint smirked behind the mask. "I think the Piranha Plants could use a snack, don't you think?" Seeing Toadette's eyes spring open in horror, he chuckled. "Don't worry. You won't be in pain for very long."

Behind the bush, Toad's eyes widened as wide as Toadette's. "He's gonna kill her!" He whispered. "I can't let that happen!"

Just as Toad was about to stand up and charge at Quint, a firm hand held him back. Looking back, Toad saw that stern face of Fice T.

"No, Toad. He looks dangerous." He said. "Here, you release Toadette. I'll take care of that guy."

Everyone was shocked at the sudden bravery that Fice T was showing. He noticed their glares and gave his answer. "I may be a coward, but messing with Toad Town citizens is too far for me." He replied. "Let me handle this."

Toad nodded as he went around the back way. Everyone else wished Fice T luck as he slowly stood up and walked around from the bush, out into the open.

"Hey, shorty!" He called out.

This got Quint's attention. Turning around, he saw Fice T standing there, spear and shield raised and ready to attack.

"Impossibility!" He cried. "No one had ever been able to find me before!"

"Then you obviously haven't met anyone smart enough to search for footprints." Fice T said. "Now, hand over the Power Crystal and release Toadette."

Quint laughed. "Foolishness! Do you really think I'd listen to someone like you?" he suddenly grew serious. "But you know about the Power Crystals. It looks like I have no choice but to destroy you."

Quint charged at Fice T and activated a button on his watch, blinding the mushroom guard.

**(Nth Dimension)**

Fice T opened his eyes. When he could finally see, he wasn't surprised to see that he wasn't in the jungle anymore. Instead, it was the Nth Dimension. This time, the platform was a huge square platform. At each of the side was another square platform, slightly smaller and too far away for Fice T to jump to. He quickly saw Quint standing close to the middle of the big platform.

"Who the HECK are you?" Fice T asked.

"I am..." The strange Shyguy struck several weird poses. "Congo Quint! The most raring, daring, fearless Shyguy in the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Fice T shook his head in hopelessness. "We'll see about that one."

"Indeed we shall!" Quint shouted as he jumped to one of the smaller platforms and pulled out a gun. "Have at thee!"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: CONGO QUINT – HEALTH: 3]**

Quint fired a shot from his gun, shooting a pellet at Fice T. The normally- terrified guard quickly put up his shield, making the pellet bounce off of it harmlessly. Quint growled as he somehow jumped to the next platform over and fired another pellet. Again, the shot bounced off the shield.

Clearly frustrated, Quint jumped to the next platform and started firing shot after shot dozens of times. How the gun could hold this much ammo, Fice T would never know, but what he DID know was that he wouldn't be able to block every last shot like that. The guard wisely decided to turn tail and run away from the trail of pellets, all of which struck the ground, leaving a trail of smoke.

After finishing firing all of the shots, Quint flipped a switch on his gun and fired again, this time shooting a ball of fire at the mushroom guard. Fice T's eyes sprang open as he pulled the shield in front of his face, bracing for impact. He knew that the fireball was coming too fast to avoid.

The fireball struck Fice T's shield, but didn't reflect. Instead, the shield actually absorbed the flaming ball of fire. Fice T's eyes widened as he looked at his shield, which was now starting to glow a dim shade of red.

"My shield can ABSORB?" Fice T asked himself.

Quint's eyes widened behind his mask as he jumped to the next platform and started firing the gun normally again. He was determined to defeat Fice T. He wouldn't let a normal mushroom person defeat him. He started firing another trail of pellets from the gun and watched as Fice T ran away from the line of the dozens of pellets.

Fice T kept his eye on Quint, waiting for him to flip the switch on the gun again so he could absorb another fireball.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Quint flipped the switch on the gun and fired another fireball. Fice T quickly brought the shield up to protect his face and let the fireball strike the shield again. Like before, the shield absorbed the projectile. As Quint leapt to the next platform, Fice T quickly looked at his shield. It was glowing even brighter now.

Quint fired more shots from the gun, making another trail of gunfire. Fice T ran as the pellets hit the ground around his feet.

Fice T watched as Quint jumped to the next platform. He waited for him to fire another fireball so he could absorb it.

The guard smirked as he saw Quint flip the switch on his gun again. Again, the ball of fire was fired from the barrel of the gun. Fice T held up the shield and allowed the ball of embers to strike it.

Fice T expected the shield to do nothing, but what happened next surprised him. The combined energy from all three fireballs built up far too much energy for the shield to handle. In an instant, a long, continuous beam of flaming energy shot from the shield and struck the platform Quint was standing on. The strange Shyguy was sent into the air and landed on the platform with Fice T. The guard took this opportunity to plunge the end of his spear to strike Quint in the head. **[HIT]**

"Gah!" Quint shouted as he jumped to his feet and leapt back to the platform. "Impressiveness..."

Quint drew the gun again and started firing the continuous stream of pellets and watched as Fice T ran away from them. Quint stopped shooting and flipped the switch again before firing once.

Fice T saw the fireball coming at him and quickly held up his shield. The fireball struck the shield as the shield absorbed it.

Quint leapt to the next platform and ripped something from his belt: A hand grenade. Fice T's eyes sprang open as Quint tossed the grenade at him.

"_Oh, crap!"_ Fice T thought as he started running, trying to get as far away from the grenade, which was bouncing towards him, as possible.

Once Fice T was far enough away, the grenade stopped bouncing and exploded, making a ball of fire erupt in a small area on the arena floor. After the explosion died down, Quint pulled out his gun and fired another fireball. Another shot easily absorbed.

Quint decided to go back to square one as he jumped to the next platform over, pulling out his gun and firing the gun rapidly again. Fice T ran from the pellets as the smoke they left behind started rising around his feet.

Fice T waited impatiently for Quint to stop shooting and shoot another fireball. Luckily, his wait was quickly over.

Quint flipped the switch on the gun and shot another fireball. Fice T quickly held up his shield and allowed the shield to absorb the fireball.

Like Fice T expected, the shield fired another beam of fire at the Shyguy, striking the platform he was on. Quint was sent high into the air until he hit the platform Fice T was standing on. The mushroom guard again attacked Quint with the end of his spear. **[HIT]**

"What the?" Quint shouted as he leapt to his feet and leapt back to his platform. "Annoyance..."

Fice T watched as Quint pulled out his gun again and started firing the steady stream of pellets at the mushroom guard, this time even faster than ever before, in an attempt to actually hit him this time. Unfortunately for him, none of the pellets actually hit the mushroom guard.

Quint quickly flipped the switch on his gun and fired another fireball. Fice T quickly held up his shield and absorbed the fireball, making his shield glow slightly.

The strange Shyguy started panicking, as he was getting pretty close to his first ever loss. He quickly ripped another grenade from his belt and hurled it at Fice T. The mushroom guard quickly ran away from the grenade as it bounced towards him.

Fice T ran from the grenade and waited for it to explode. When it did, Fice T watched Quint jump to the next platform and prepared for him to pull out the gun again.

However, this time was different.

"Destruction!" Quint shouted as he started pulling grenades from his pocket and throwing them as fast as he could.

Fice T's eyes sprang open as he started running. Every time a grenade struck the ground, it exploded. Fice T had to run as fast as he could to avoid the many explosions that came up from all around him. He could only hope that Quint would throw another fireball.

Luckily, the explosions stopped soon enough. Fice T quickly turned towards Quint and pulled up his shield just as he saw the fireball coming at him.

The fireball struck the shield as it became absorbed. Suddenly, the beam of fire, containing the energy from all three fireballs, shot from the shield, striking the platform Quint was standing on.

Quint was sent flying until he landed face-first on the platform Fice T was on. Fice T quickly plunged the end of his spear into the back of Quint's head for the third time. **[HIT]**

"Ung..." Quint moaned as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. "Mistakeness..."

Fice T spun his spear around in his hand a few times before plunging it into the ground and raising above his head in triumph. "You're quite weird, but I think you know that."

**[END BATTLE. FICE T WINS.]**

Before Fice T could search Quint for the Power Crystal, a bright light blinded him.

**(Yoshi's Island)**

When Fice T opened his eyes again, he saw that he was in the jungle again, Quint lying on the ground, defeated. The rest of the team stood around as Toad stood aside, comforting Toadette while holding her in an embrace.

"You did it, Fice T!" Goombaria said.

"Let's get that crystal from him before he gets away!" Luigi instructed.

As the team quickly rushed towards the defeated Shyguy, Quint was engulfed in a strange, white energy. The light quickly faded from sight, and when it did, Quint was gone.

Waluigi shook his head. "This isn't good! There's only two more crystals left now!"


	8. He Has Fury

**Chapter eight: He Has Fury**

**(Unknown Location)**

Daisy looked around the room she was in. She was still in the same room as before, but it was so dark that Daisy couldn't tell if there was anything familiar in it. The princess figured that if she could see something that looked familiar, she'd be able to figure out who was behind her kidnapping in the first place. Alas, it was still dark out, except for a light hanging above the door. But even that didn't help at all.

The brunette princess sighed. She had given up on trying to break free of the ropes holding her to the chair long ago, as her wrists were becoming sore. The only thing she could do is hope Luigi and the others could save her before this group of villains could get all of the Power Crystals.

"This is starting to become annoying." The dark figure growled as he paced around the room. "Five of my minions, eight if you count the other three Koopa Brothers, have gone up against this team, and they've all failed to bring even one of them down." He sighed. "Well, at least they've been collecting Power Crystals. That's the main thing."

The figure rubbed his chin. "Well, here's hoping that my next minion can do this."

Daisy started letting out muffled shouts at the figure. The figure turned around to face his bound captive and walked over to her.

"Did you say something, my dear?" The figure asked, peeling the tape from Daisy's mouth.

Smacking her lips a couple of times to get rid of the bad taste, Daisy glared up at the figure angrily. "Don't count on it!" She shouted. "From what I've heard, Luigi would do anything to save me! Your minion won't stand a chance!"

The figure turned away and walked away from the princess, deciding to leave the gag off of her mouth. "Don't be so sure, princess." He said. "My next minion has been training hard since meeting defeat at the hands of the Mario Bros."

"Hey, man who is my leader!" A short figure said as he floated into the room with something attached to his head. "Is sparkly thing that is not a Diamond where you have informed me it is?"

"Yes, now get going before Luigi and the others find the crystal." The figure ordered.

The short figure floated into the light, revealing a short, green creature with glasses and a red cloak with a strange mechanical device on his head. "Have not any fear, man who is my leader!" Fawful laughed. "I have resentment against the green man that isn't Mario!"

Daisy raised an eyebrow. Luigi had never told her of this guy, and she was beginning to understand why.

**(Yoshi's Island)**

"Toadette, I'm so sorry for putting you in danger like that." Toad said as he and Toadette followed the team away from the spot where Fice T had defeated Congo Quint. "If I had known that the crystal I gave you was something that these villains were looking for, I promise I wouldn't have given it to you."

"Toad, it isn't your fault." Toadette smiled. "You just saw it, thought it was beautiful and gave it to me. At first, I admit that it couldn't get any better, but when you were willing to take on that whole Shyguy Tribe for me while I ran to safety, it touched me when realized how much you really cared."

"But...I can't help but feel guilty about all this." Toad whispered as he looked at the ground.

"Oh, Toad." The female mushroom said as she hugged her boyfriend. "I felt honored when you did all that for me. I felt like a somebody, because I knew that someone cared for me. Toad, you're the best boyfriend any mushroom girl could have, and I feel so touched that you chose me."

Waluigi sighed, having heard the whole thing. "Mushy stuff is so disgusting." He said.

"Ah, save it." Goombaria said. "I happen to like romance."

"So where do we go now? We have no clue who could possibly be one of the explorers that found the original crystal." Melody said to the leader of the team.

Luigi shrugged. "I don't know, but something tells me we should ask Raphael."

**(Big Tree)**

"So you're thinking that I would be one of a group of explorers that found something called the 'Power Crystal'." Raphael said to the team.

"Yes." Melody nodded. "We must find the next crystal before this group of villains do."

Luigi continued. "These jerks have five out of five crystals already. Not only that, but they've also kidnapped Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. I don't know why they want her, but my team and I must locate the remaining crystals before the villains do."

Raphael stared into space for a few seconds, his eyes wider than usual. "You must travel to the Beanbean Kingdom to locate the next crystal. It's hidden deep within the castle sewer system." He said. "And you must hurry. I think I know why Princess Daisy was the target."

"Really?" Luigi asked. "Why?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you." Raphael shook his head. "Your time is short and the story is too long. Anyway, once you find the crystal in Beanbean, search for Lady Lima. She holds the location of the final crystal."

Everyone thanked the giant raven as they rushed off back towards Yoshi Village with Toad and Toadette in tow.

Soon, they arrived at Yoshi Village. After dropping Toad and Toadette off, the team rushed off again, down the beach to get back to Merlon in the quickest way possible.

The team ran along the beach, either avoiding the Jungle Fuzzies or kicking them aside.

When they finally reached Merlon, they saw the old wizard lying on top of a rock, sound asleep.

"Um...Merlon?" Luigi asked, poking Merlon.

The wizard suddenly shot into a sitting position. "Wha? Huh? The answer is seven!" He suddenly saw the team. "Oh, you're all back! Perfect! Now we can go back."

"Not so fast, Merlon." Sonar said. "We need you to warp us to the Beanbean Kingdom."

Merlon was silent. "So Raphael has told you about the next crystal?" He asked. The team nodded. "Very well. I'll have the bunch of you in the Beanbean Kingdom in no time."

Nodding once, Merlon summoned a bunch of lights, which surrounded the team, making them all vanish into thin air.

**(Beanbean Fields)**

Luigi looked around once the white light faded away. He wasn't surprised to find himself standing in Beanbean Fields rather than Yoshi Island. He was the only one on the team that didn't look around in awe, as he had been to Beanbean before.

"It looks surprisingly similar to the Mushroom Kingdom." Sonar observed as he looked around. "I never would've guessed."

"Well, we'd better get to the castle." Goombaria said. "The quicker we get there, the quicker we can find the crystal."

Everyone agreed as they ran off, again leaving Merlon behind, playing rock, paper, scissors with himself.

The team walked through the fields, towards the middle of the kingdom, where the castle was. It took them around five minutes, but they finally saw the castle come into view.

"Remember, don't be surprised if the guards have never heard of you." Luigi told Waluigi. "When I first came here, they had no clue who I was."

"Ouch."

As the team approached the gates of the castle town, the two guards saw them coming.

"Hey, look! It's...Uh...It's that...Uh...Guy." The first guard pointed out when he saw Luigi.

"Yeah...He came with Mario, I think...I believe his name was...Linguine or something." The second guard added.

"Luigi." Luigi said flatly.

"Geshuntiet." The first guard said. "So what is your business here?"

"We've come to look around the castle." Sonar said. "We have heard that there's a very dangerous crystal called the Power Crystal hidden below the castle in the sewer system."

The second guard jumped. "What? Oh, that's terrible! We must do something quickly!"

"The sewer system? That's so gross!" The first guard added.

"This Power Crystal must be found or our kingdom will be a target for some ruthless villains!"

The first guard stopped and looked at the second. "Psst...What's a Power Crystal?"

"Shh! No idea." The second guard replied.

The whole team fell facefirst to the ground.

**(Beanbean Castle)**

Luigi pushed open the doors to the castle and walked inside, the rest of the team following him. It didn't take too much talking to get the guards to allow them to pass.

"So where did you say this secret entrance to the sewer system was?" Melody asked.

"It should be right..." Luigi said as he walked over an area on the floor of the castle. "Here."

Everyone quickly jumped up and down on the area Luigi had said where the entrance was in an attempt to open the trapdoor.

However, unknown to everyone, a short figure stood in the shadows, holding a remote. Jamming a button on it, the remote opened the trapdoor from right under everyone's feet. Everyone quickly fell down, into the sewer system, as the figure stepped out of the shadows and walked over to the open trapdoor.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Fawful laughed. "Foolish humanoids and friends fell for the trap that was set by me, and are now within the perimeters of the system of the sewers!" Suddenly, his laughing stopped and his grin faded. "Is not the system of the sewers where the man that is my leader informed me where the shiny object that is not a Diamond was located?" He stood in silence for a few seconds as the trapdoor closed. "...Oh, crapiness!"

Without another word, Fawful turned around and charged off in the direction of the staircase leading to the sewers.

**(Sewers)**

Goombaria screamed as she fell down the long hole, falling straight towards the floor of the sewers system. And she would've hit the ground too, if there wasn't a pile of bodies directly below her. The Goomba girl bounced off the top of the pile and landed on the floor safely.

"What the heck?" Goombaria asked aloud as she turned to the pile of bodies, seeing everyone else in the team stacked up into a pile.

"Wow! That was fun!" Sonar said. "Can we do that again?"

"We need to get off of each other first." Waluigi moaned.

"If you'll remove your elbow from my stomach, then I'll get out of your way." Luigi said.

"Everyone...Please...Off now..." Fice T gasped for air from the bottom of the pile.

After everyone had gotten off of Fice T, they all stood straight and looked around. The water in the sewers flowed through pipes, leading outside the castle. The whole floor of the sewer system was actually amazingly dry. Dry enough for several Fighter Flies and Spinys to roam around. The gate leading to the next part of the sewer was closed.

"How do we get through there?" Melody asked, pointing at the gate.

"We defeat all of the enemies roaming around the area." Luigi explained. "Take whatever enemies you want, but Goombaria? Make sure that you only attack the Fighter Flies. You won't be able to defeat the Spinys with a headbonk."

Everyone agreed as they split up to take out the different enemies in the area.

With the power of Luigi's Thunderhand, Waluigi's dark fireballs, Melody's Firebrand, Fice T's spear, Sonar's brute strength and Goombaria's headbonk, the enemies scattered around the area were quickly defeated.

Luigi stomped down on the head of the final Fighter Fly, defeating it. He looked around at the rest of the team. "That's all of them." He explained.

"Wait." Sonar pointed out. "If that was the last of them, shouldn't the door open?"

Everyone looked at the gate blocking the way to the next room. Everyone saw that it was still closed.

Luigi rubbed his chin. "That's strange." He said, confused. "The gate should be open."

"But that must mean that there's still an enemy hanging around." Waluigi concluded.

"Opa!"

"Opa!"

Everyone looked up, in the direction of the voices. They saw two small, black figures soaring down from above, heading straight towards them.

"Oh, crap!" Fice T said when he saw that the two figures were coming straight at him. He ran to the side and allowed the figures to hit the ground. Once they hit the ground, the two figures started jumping in place.

The team took this time to look at the two newcomers. It was clear that they were Ninjis, judging by their looks and how they were jumping in place.

"Hallo, eveirybody!" The first Ninji greeted in a Swedish accent as he jumped in place. "I am beingk Sven tha Ninji, and thees ees by brather Ben!"

"Hallo!" The second Ninji added.

Waluigi sweatdropped. "Just when we thought the Shyguy Tribe was weird, we run into a couple of Swedish Ninjis."

"Ve have been vatchingk you guys dafeet our freends in thees room!" Ben said as he continued jumping. "Ve are not likingk thees!"

"Ve must eevenge our freends!" Sven exclaimed as he shot a stubby arm into the air. "Ve must dafeet thees teem of freend-dafeeters eef eet ees tha last theeng ve do!"

"I'll take these guys." Melody explained. "That talking is already starting to get on my nerves."

"Okay." Luigi nodded. "Just be careful and don't judge these guys because of how they act. Ninjis can be deadly."

Melody nodded as she stepped forward to face the two Ninjis.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: SWEDISH NINJI BROTHERS – SVEN'S HEALTH: 3]**

Before Melody had time to attack, the two Ninjis sprang high into the air and leaped towards opposite walls. Soon, both Swedes were bouncing all over the room. At first, melody thought that this would be a hard battle, but suddenly, both Ninjis stopped, both of them hanging on the different walls.

"Take THEES!" Sven shouted as he threw a ninja star at Melody. Ben did the same.

Melody's eyes sprang open as she leapt into the air to avoid the ninja stars. Luckily, the ninja stars struck the ground below her.

While in midair, Melody thrust her hand out at one of the Ninjis, firing a fireball. However, just as the fireball was about to strike the Ninji, a shield appeared in front of the Swede, blocking the shot.

"Your attacks are beingk puny against my sheeld!" Sven taunted as he continued zipping around the room.

Melody found herself looking up at the two Ninjis. _"This is insane!"_ She thought. _"I can't tell the two of them apart!"_ She narrowed her eyes. _"I guess I'll just have to dish out everything on both of them and hope that I strike the right one."_

Suddenly, Melody saw that the Ninjis had stopped again and were preparing to throw another star each. As quick as she could, Melody charged her Firebrand, and just as the Ninjis threw their ninja stars.

As Melody leapt over the ninja stars, she hurled the fully-charged fireball at one of the Ninjis, hoping that it was the right one.

Melody expected the Ninji to activate a shield like last time, but no shield appeared. The fireball struck the Ninji, sending him to the ground.

"Ben!" Sven cried as he leapt from the wall and rushed over to his brother's side.

Rather than attack, Melody rubbed her chin, trying to think of what had just happened. Sven had a shield, Ben didn't. The fireball that just struck Ben didn't register as a hit, yet it still sent him to the ground. Melody deduced that none of her attacks would hurt Ben, just stun him. That meant that she'd have to go for Sven to attack, but the strange shield posed a major problem.

In the meantime, Sven had snapped his brother out of the daze. Once Ben was back on his feet, both Ninjis ran at Melody and drew a Katana each.

Melody's eyes snapped open as she suddenly decided to run, as both Ninjis were swinging their respective Katanas at her. Melody leapt on top of a pipe and jumped backwards, flipping over the Ninjis at the same time. Melody continued running, as the Ninjis quickly noticed that they were no longer facing her.

Luckily, the running stopped. Both Ninjis sheathed their Katana and leapt into the air again, going back to the walls. As Melody looked around and the Ninjis, she decided to prepare ahead of time, charging her Firebrand before the Ninjis stopped.

Melody quickly noticed that the Ninji brothers had stopped and were preparing to throw the ninja stars. Melody quickly threw a fireball at one of the Ninjis, hoping that it was Ben.

Luckily, it was. The shield didn't activate and Ben was sent to the ground again.

"Brather!" Sven cried as he rushed to Ben's side.

Melody, decided to try something, charged towards Sven, pulled her foot back and landed a hard kick to the small figure's body, knocking him away. **[HIT]**

Sven grunted as he quickly got to his feet. "That vas a cheep shot!" He shouted at Melody. Ben quickly got to his feet as they both pulled a Katana from a holster on their back.

The former ghost quickly turned tail and ran from the oncoming Swedes. As much as the Ninjis tried to attack Melody, the girl was just to fast. Melody avoided the many swings the Ninjis were dishing out, but only narrowly. Both Ninjis suddenly sheathed their Katanas and leapt back to the walls.

Melody quickly charged her Firebrand and waited impatiently for the Ninjis to stop. When the Ninjis DID stop, Melody quickly threw a fireball at one of them, and just as the Ninjis threw the ninja stars.

The young woman leapt into the air to avoid the ninja stars and quickly looked at the Ninji she had just thrown the fireball at. She growled in frustration when she saw that she had just fired the fireball at Sven and not Ben, as the Ninji had activated a shield, blocking the attack. The Ninjis quickly got back to leaping all around the room.

As Melody charged the Firebrand for the second time, she kept a close eye on Sven, making sure that she threw the fireball at the other Ninji this time.

Once the Ninjis stopped, Melody quickly spun around and threw a fireball at the Ninji she predicted was Ben. Luckily, it was. The ball of embers struck Ben, sending him to the ground.

"Ben!" Sven cried as he rushed to the other Ninji's side.

As Sven shook his brother to snap him out of his daze, Melody rushed towards Sven and delivered another hard kick to the Swede, again knocking him away. **[HIT]**

"Oh..." Sven moaned as he stood up. "Thees not good, brather! Ve are losingk!"

Ben quickly shot to his feet and pulled out his Katana. Sven did the same. Both Ninjis ran at Melody, swinging their respective Katanas wildly in a blind attempt to kill her. Melody quickly turned and ran.

Melody found that these guys were trying harder to kill her now, as they were running much faster than the first time.

Melody ran towards the nearest wall and, much to the surprise of the rest of the team, ran up it several steps and flipped off of it, landing behind the Ninjis. She continued running, hoping that the Ninjis would stop soon.

Luckily, they did. Sheathing their Katanas again, the Ninjis leapt back towards the walls and started jumping around again.

While charging the Fireband again, Melody kept looking around, trying to decide which one she should throw the fireball at. When the Ninjis finally stopped jumping back and forth, they each threw a ninja star at Melody. Luckily, the former ghost had just enough time to send her fireball at a random Ninji, hoping that it was Ben.

Melody was half-expecting a shield to appear, but when the fireball struck the Ninji instead, she knew that she had thrown the fireball at the right Ninji.

"Ben!" Sven shouted as he rushed to his brother's side.

Taking her last chance, Melody ran at the distracted Sven and gave him another hard kick, sending him away. **[HIT]**

"Oh, vow..." Sven said as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. "Look at all ze preety birdees..."

Melody jumped into the air and clapped her hands quickly a couple of times with a wide smile. "Swedish Ninjis. The author of this fanfic is REALLY running out of ideas."

**[END BATTLE. MELODY WINS]**

**(Sewers)**

Everyone watched as Melody walked away from the defeated bodies of the Swede Ninjis back towards the team.

"I'm impressed, Melody." Luigi said. "Those Ninjis didn't hit you once"

"Where did you learn those gymnastics moves?" Waluigi asked. "You ran up the wall and backflipped over those two."

"Mom and dad put me through a gym course before I became a ghost." Melody explained.

"To keep muggers away from you?" Sonar asked.

"No. To keep Mr. Luggs away from the fridge."

Everyone else looked at each other and shrugged.

"Hey, look!" Goombaria said as something caught her eye. "The gate's open!" Everyone turned to look at the gate and saw that it was, indeed, open.

"Let's get going!" Fice T said. "The sooner we find the crystal, the sooner we can get out of here!"

No one argued with the mushroom guard, as they all ran through the open gate.

The team continued going through the few rooms of the sewer system, defeating whatever enemies that were around. A couple of rooms through the sewer, the team came across a room without enemies, yet it had a locked gate in the room. It was also bigger than normal. On the far right of the room was a set of staircases leading up, back into the castle.

"The crystal must be in that room behind the gate!" Goombaria said excitedly.

"But there's no enemies around." Sonar said as he looked around. "How do we get in?"

"This way." Luigi said as he walked over to a control panel on the wall beside the gate. Activating his Thunderhand, Luigi generated a quick bolt of energy, which was enough to energize the control panel, opening the gate.

"Quick! Let's find the crystal before the villains do!" Luigi told the team.

Everyone quickly complied with Luigi's request as they all piled into the small room behind the gate.

Inside the room, there looked like there was nothing. It looked like just an empty room with nothing special to make it look different.

"Weird." Melody said as she scratched her head. "If there's nothing in here, then why was the gate blocking the room?"

"Because there IS something in here." Fice T said as he walked over to the far wall and started feeling around.

"Uh...What are you doing, Fice T?" Goombaria asked.

"Just a minute." Fice T said as he continued feeling around. Suddenly, he felt his hand sink into one of the bricks, pushing it back. "Aha! I found it!" He said in triumph as a section of the wall slid away, revealing a secret compartment. "There wouldn't be a locked gate blocking nothing for no reason. That usually means that there's a secret compartment somewhere."

As Fice T reached into the exposed compartment, the team gathered around him. When the mushroom guard pulled his hands out, everyone saw that he was now holding a sparkling crystal in his hand.

"The Power Crystal!" Melody gasped.

"Finally!" Luigi grinned. "We've beat the villains to the punch!"

"Oh, this scene is not anything that remotely resembles good!"

Everyone turned around to look at the owner of the voice, but Luigi already had a feeling on who it was. Everyone saw a short, green figure wearing glasses, dressed in a red cloak.

"You AGAIN?" Luigi moaned.

"Yes! It is I, man dressed in green that is the brother of the man that is Mario that I hate!" Fawful shouted.

Everyone except Luigi sweatdropped. "Who the heck is THIS wierdo?" Sonar asked.

"Fawful." Luigi explained. "Determined crony of the late Cackletta and master of Engrish."

"You have great knowledge of the one that is me, green man that isn't Mario." Fawful said. "But I have meaning of business in this perimeter. Hand that shiny object that isn't a Diamond over to the one that is me!"

"No way!" Luigi shouted.

"Then I shall require the need to beat you into the ground in order to obtain it." Fawful said.

"Not on my account!" Waluigi shouted. "No one beats up on the green twerp but ME!"

"Wow, saved and insulted at the same time." Luigi whispered to Melody. "Even MARIO'S not that fast."

Fawful smirked. "The strange man that needs a nose job and bares resemblance to that of a branch wishes to challenge the one that is me? So be it!"

Rearing back, Fawful sent a ball of light flying from the mouth of his headgear. The ball of light touched Waluigi, engulfing him and Fawful.

**(Nth Dimension)**

Even before the light cleared, Waluigi knew where he was going to end up. Looking around, Waluigi saw that he was indeed in the Nth Dimension. This time, the battle arena was a simple disk lying on its side.

"How original." Waluigi said sarcastically as he looked up. Fawful was floating around overhead.

"Are you feeling the emotion of fear yet, man that bares resemblance to that of a twig?" Fawful taunted.

"Afraid? Of you?" Waluigi asked. "Not a chance, buddy!"

"Maybe in after a short amount of time has transpired, you will!" Fawful laughed.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: FAWFUL – HEALTH: 3]**

"Fink-rat!" Fawful shouted as a ball of green energy was sent flying from the mouth of the machine on his head. Waluigi quickly dodged to the side, allowing the ball of energy to strike the stone platform.

"Fink-rat!" Fawful repeated as he fired another shot. Like the first, Waluigi easily avoided it.

"Fink-rat!" The strange creature shouted for a third time as he fired yet another shot from the machine on his head.

"_That is starting to annoy me."_ Waluigi thought as he leaned t the side, avoiding the ball of energy. _"He'd better start something new."_

Waluigi expected Fawful to call him a fink-rat for a fourth time, but something new instead.

"You shall now be eating of THIS!"

Looking up, Waluigi saw Fawful swooping down at him, the mouth of the machine baring a sharp set of teeth. The dark plumber's eyes widened as he started fleeing from the incoming creature, whom was flying close to the ground to allow his machine to bite Waluigi.

Looking back, Waluigi saw that the machine's teeth were getting dangerously close. He started sweating. _"Man! It's getting closer!"_ He thought. Out of desperateness and lack for a better plan, Waluigi started gathering energy in his right hand. _"Here's hoping that this'll slow him down!"_

When the energy in his hand had reached its peak potential, Waluigi quickly spun in place and flung his hand out at the machine's mouth, firing a ball of dark purple flames into it.

The dark fireball went straight into the mouth of the machine, suddenly making it stop. On closer inspection, Waluigi saw that the dark energy from the fireball was being contained in the machine's chamber. The mouth of the machine suddenly started couching as it malfunctioned. The machine suddenly rocketed into the air, Fawful still attached to it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fawful screamed as he flew around the arena in all directions. "I HAVE MOTION-SICKNESS!"

Waluigi looked up as Fawful continued soaring around the arena. Suddenly, a light went on inside his head. Crouching low, Waluigi allowed his left fist to gather up some more energy and waited for Fawful to come along.

Once Fawful was overhead, Waluigi sprang up, his extra-long legs giving him more air. His left fist was engulfed in a ball of purple fire. Waluigi's powered-up fist landed a direct hit to Fawful's jaw as he was sailing by. The vertically-challenged creature was sent spinning in several midair cartwheels until he landed face first on the ground. **[HIT]**

"That shot that just struck the one that is me has the unfairness of being used by that of a cheater!" Fawful shouted as he jumped to his feet. The dark energy in the container was now gone. "I have fury!"

As Fawful regained control of the mechanism on his head, Waluigi thought. Out of pure luck, he had found out how to defeat Fawful. He would merely have to avoid the energy shots long enough to shot a fireball into the machine's mouth, and then deliver a flaming uppercut to finally do damage.

"I HAVE FURY!" Fawful shrieked, breaking Waluigi's chain of thought.

Again, Waluigi looked up. Fawful reared back in midair as the mouth of the machine started gathering up energy.

Suddenly, Fawful lunged forward, firing a steady beam of energy from the mouth of the machine. Waluigi's eyes sprang open as he started running away from the laser beam that was hitting the ground just behind his feet.

Looking down, Waluigi saw the laser starting to catch up on him, starting to hit the ground between his legs. _"Oh, crap!"_ He thought. _"I've gotta pick up the pace, or else I'm toast!"_

Right then, much to Waluigi's relief, the laser beam stopped firing. Quickly turning around, Waluigi expected Fawful to start flying closer to the ground again, but that wasn't the case.

"Fink-rat!" Faful shouted as he fired a quick ball of energy from the machine on his head.

Waluigi quickly avoided the oncoming energy ball, as well as the two more that followed it.

"You shall now be eating of THIS!" Fawful shouted as he swooped closer to the ground, the teeth of his machine's mouth constantly snapping like a Chomp.

Waluigi quickly took the time he had to charge another fireball before Fawful got too close. Once it was fully-charged, Waluigi thrust his hand out again, firing the ball of dark flames into the machine's mouth.

Like before, the machine started coughing as the fireball's energy showed up in the container. Suddenly, it took to the air again, carrying poor Fawful with it.

"I SHALL BE DYING! I SHALL BE DYING!" Fawful screamed in terror. "I SHALL BECOME SICK! AND THEN I SHALL BE DYING!"

"Don't worry." Waluigi chuckled as he crouched low again. "I'll get ya down."

Just as Fawful was flying overhead, Waluigi sprang into the air again, his left fist covered in purple flames. Waluigi struck Fawful in the jaw again, sending the strange, grinning creature spinning until landing heavily on the ground. **[HIT]**

"Oy." Fawful moaned as he got to his feet. "That shall be leaving of a mark in the coming morning."

As soon as Fawful was on his feet, he activated the rockets on his machine to go full blast. The small creature was rocketed high into the air, much higher than ever before during the battle. Waluigi looked up at Fawful, whom was getting smaller by the second, wondering what he was planning.

He soon found out, as once he was at the peak of his jump, Fawful spun around in midair and started falling straight down, behind first, towards the arena floor.

Waluigi's eyes widened, realizing what Fawful was about to do. As quickly as he could, Waluigi started scrambling towards the other end of the arena, and just as Fawful came crashing down. Hard. So hard that the arena started tilting. Waluigi found himself scrambling upwards on a rapidly-increasing slope.

The purple plumber felt relieved when he felt the arena returning to normal. The arena fell back to its original position so fast that it launched Fawful into the air again. While in midair, the rockets on the machine activated again, allowing Fawful to hover over the battlefield again.

"You shall now be eating of THIS!" Fawful shouted.

Waluigi was expecting Fawful to start throwing balls of energy again rather than go straight to swooping down. As quick as he could, Waluigi charged up a final fireball before Fawful approached.

Once Fawful was close enough, Waluigi thrust his hand out, launching the dark embers straight into the mouth of the machine.

As the purple energy appeared in the container, the machine started coughing again. Suddenly, the rockets started backfiring again, sending the poor Beanbean creature straight into the air again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fawful screamed. "THIS IS NOT BECOMING THE EMOTION OF FUNNESS!"

As the watched Fawful fly around, Waluigi crouched low and prepared. Once Fawful flew overhead, Waluigi sprang high into the air, his fist wound up for a flaming uppercut. For the third and final time, the first scored a direct hit to Fawful's jaw, sending the rocket machine off his head. Fawful hit the ground again, this time for good. **[HIT]**

"Oooooohhhhh..." Fawful moaned as he drifted into unconsciousness. "That just reeks...Of the stench of...Impossibility..."

Brining his foot into the air, Waluigi slammed it down and laughed heartily. "I hope you realize that I understood next to nothing of what you said."

**[END BATTLE. WALUIGI WINS]**

Waluigi knew that Fawful didn't have the Power Crystal, so he simply waited until the white light blinded him again.

**(Beanbean Castle)**

When Waluigi could see again, he wasn't surprised to find himself back in the sewers of Beanbean Castle, the team surrounding him. Fawful lay aside, stars spinning around his head.

"Hey, Waluigi did it!" Goombaria said.

Before anyone could do anything else, they saw Fawful become surrounded in light before fading from sight, just like everyone before him.

"Hey, this is great!" Luigi said as he looked back at Fice T, who was still holding the bright crystal he had found. "We have one of the Power Crystals now!"

The mushroom guard nodded. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't hurry and find the last one."


	9. Odd He Is

**Chapter nine: Odd He Is**

**(Unknown Location)**

Daisy watched as the leader of the villains responsible for this whole ordeal was shouting at Fawful. Obviously, he was angry at the vertically- challenged weirdo for allowing Luigi's team to find a crystal.

"Don't you understand how important those crystals are to this plan?" The leader shouted at the cowering Fawful. "Without all seven, this plan won't work! Now get out of my sight!"

Fawful scrambled out of the room. The leader sighed as he turned around to look at Daisy. "Your boyfriend is throwing a major wrench into my plans." He said.

Daisy smirked. "That just goes to show not to underestimate a Mario brother, especially if you've kidnapped his girlfriend." She replied.

"Watch your mouth, brat." The figure growled. "There's still a chance for me. My last minion will just have two crystals to collect."

"Ready I am, boss! Nya!" The tall, thin figure said as he walked into the room.

"Okay. Be ready for Luigi Mario at any point of time." The leader ordered. "You have to not only get to the crystal before they do, but you need to steal the crystal they already have."

The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a strange-looking creature with red hair, an insane grin and a strange, string-like substance connecting the top of his head to his short tail. "Do it I shall! Nya, ha, ha!" Bowyer laughed. "Have this one in the bag I will! Nya!"

**(Beanbean Kingdom)**

"Okaaaaaay..." Waluigi said. "Now what?"

"We need to find the remaining explorer." Luigi said. "You guys have any ideas?"

"Raphael told us to talk to Lady Lima, remember?" Sonar reminded, sticking his 'hand' into the air.

"Hey! That's right!" Goombaria said. "This'll be easy! We're already here!"

Everyone quickly rushed up the stairs, Fice T holding onto the crystal that he had found. Luigi was the first to arrive at the doorway leading to Beanbean Castle. However, as soon as he ran out of it, he collided with someone about to go down the stairs. When he landed on the ground, Luigi looked at who he had just collided with. His eyes widened.

"Lady Lima!"

"Oh! Luigi!" Lady Lima said as she picked herself off of the ground. "Thank goodness it's you. For a second there I was thinking we had a monster prowling the sewers."

"There WAS for a minute." Melody replied, remembering her fight with the Ninji Swedes.

"Well, what brings you all here?" Lady Lima asked, apparently not hearing Melody.

"We need your help." Luigi replied. "A group of villains are searching for the Power Crystals, they already have five of them, but luckily, we beat them to one. They've kidnapped Daisy, but we have no idea why. Raphael Raven told us to come see you."

Lady Lima stared at the team in shock. "Oh, no..." She whispered. "It's HIM..."

"Who?" Waluigi asked, interested in finding out the identity of the vermin responsible for this whole ordeal.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you." Lady Lima replied as she shook her head. "The story would take far too long."

"Understandable." Luigi said. "Now, could you please tell us where the final Power Crystal is?"

Lady Lima nodded. "Truth be told, there's one more explorer out there, and the crystal is in his possession. I'm the only other one who knows that he has it."

"Who is it?" Sonar asked.

"Koff E. Toad." Lady Lima replied. "He lives in the back of Rose Town now. His current obsession is growing plants. He made the cover of a gardening magazine after Mario gave him a seed and some fertilizer to grow a beanstalk hundreds of feet high."

Goombaria's eyes widened. "That old geezer?" She asked. "No way! He's way to weird to be one of the explorers!"

"But then again, there was Merlon." Fice T reminded.

"Alright. Point taken." The Goomba girl replied.

"Thank you for your help, Lady Lima!" Luigi said as he shook the elderly woman's hand gentlemanly. "Hopefully we can get to this crystal before these villains do!"

"Please hurry!" Lady Lima said as the team started rushing out of the castle. "Princess Daisy's life depends on all of you!"

The team rushed out of the castle, nearly bowling over the two clueless guards at the front door. They all charged through Beanbean Castle Town and found themselves running out into the open field, back to where they left Merlon. Upon arriving back to where Merlon was, the team saw that he was contemplating something extremely important.

"Go-Go-Gophers, watch 'em go-go-go!" Merlon sang as danced in place.

"MERLON!" Luigi shouted.

The strange Wizard turned around and saw the team approaching. "Luigi! Did you find the crystal?"

Luigi nodded. "Yeah, and now we need you to take us back to Toad Town so we can find the Warp Pipe to Rose Town."

Merlon nodded in understanding as the team gathered around him. Waving his hands around in circles, Merlon concentrated. Suddenly, everyone vanished in a bright light.

**(Mushroom Kingdom)**

After arriving back at Toad Town, everyone bid farewell to Merlon as they rushed off towards the sewer pipe leading down to Toad Town Sewers.

Soon enough, everyone arrived at the pipe leading down towards the sewers. Like before, everyone jumped in, but also like before, Fice T stood on the edge of the pipe, trembling.

"But what if we see that Lantern Ghost again?" Fice T asked.

Luigi jumped back out of the pipe and landed behind Fice T. "Because its probably just arrived at Shiver City by now." He said as he gave Fice T a shove, sending the screaming guard into the sewers. Luigi jumped back in afterwards.

When Luigi emerged from the pipe, he saw Waluigi dragging Fice T to his feet. He quickly saw Goombaria looking at him.

"Where's the pipe that leads to Rose Town?" Goombaria asked.

Luigi shook his head. "There IS none. If we want to get to Rose Town, we'll have to take the pipe leading to Kero Sewers."

"KERO SEWERS?" Fice T screamed as he leapt up into Melody's arms. "NO WAY! THERE'S BOOS, RATS AND A FEARSOME GUARDIAN THERE!"

"We've got no choice, ya chicken." Waluigi muttered.

It took the combined efforts of Waluigi and Melody to pull Fice T along as Luigi led the team to the pipe leading to Kero Sewers. Along the way, the team had to fight off a few Dark Koopas and Goombas, but nothing too major. Soon enough, the team arrived at the pipe leading to Kero Sewers. Obviously, Fice T wasn't exactly thrilled about going in.

"I'M NOT GOING!" Fice T shouted as he struggled against Waluigi and Melody's grip. "THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO THAT WILL MAKE ME GO IN THERE!"

"Let go of him, Melody." Waluigi said. Once Melody release the terrified guard, Waluigi picked him up by the shoulders and walked towards the pipe.

"Uh...What're you doing, Waluigi?" Fice T asked.

"SLAM DUNK!" Waluigi shouted as he leapt into the air and threw Fice T down the pipe with all his strength. "Okay. Let's go." With that, Waluigi jumped in himself.

The team stood in silence for a few seconds before shrugging and jumping down the pipe themselves.

**(Kero Sewers)**

Sonar was the last one out of the pipe. He leapt out of it and looked around. The sewers looked a lot darker than the Toad Town sewers. A perfect hiding place for monsters and ghosts. The rest of the team was looking out over the sewer water, where a few Cheep-Cheeps were swimming around.

"Well, now what?" Melody asked.

"We have to find the switch that drains the water." Luigi replied as he pointed to a submerged pipe. "That pipe leads to Midas River, which will quickly take us to Rose Town."

"And where's the switch?" Sonar asked.

Luigi pointed to a pipe that was sitting on a ledge not more than four feet away. "That pipe leads to the room with the switch."

"I'll go!" Fice T said quickly. "It's better than standing around in an area like this, where Boos can come from everywhere."

"Uh...Fice T?" Luigi said. He didn't get to finish, however, as Fice T had already leapt over the gap between ledges and down the pipe.

"What's wrong, Luigi?" Melody asked.

"Several Boos guard the switch."

A few seconds passed. Suddenly, the water in the sewers started draining. Soon, the sewers were empty, allowing access to the pipe. A few seconds more and a terrified scream pierced the silence. Another two or three seconds and everyone saw Fice T rocket out of the pipe, screaming, and fall straight through the pipe that was now accessible.

"Follow that chicken!" Waluigi said. Everyone agreed, as they all jumped onto the bare floor and went down the pipe.

After going through the pipe, everyone found themselves falling from the ceiling rather than come up from the floor. Everyone quickly saw Fice T laying on the ground, twitching.

As Luigi helped Fice T to his feet, Goombaria quickly spotted something nearby. "What the heck is that?" She asked.

Everyone quickly turned towards where Goombaria was looking and saw a huge, beige, dog-like creature standing on two legs with a long tongue hanging out of his mouth. Red spots were all over his body. Everyone quickly saw that the creature was asleep.

"It's Belome!" Fice T said. "The guardian of the sewers!"

Sonar walked up to Belome and looked him over. He turned back to the rest of the team. "It's alright. He's asleep." He said.

"Ung...Huh?" Sonar heard a voice behind him. Turning around, he saw Belome waking up. Once he saw Sonar, he started drooling. "Oh! I've got a snack attack!"

Sonar sweatdropped. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: BELOME – HEALTH: 3]**

Sonar looked up at Belome, who pulled his tongue back into his mouth before shooting at out at the small Shyguy. Sonar quickly turned tail and started running around Belome until the tongue couldn't go any further, snapping back into Belome's mouth.

"Oh, come on!" Belome whined. "I'm SO hungry!"

Sticking out his tongue again, Belome started turning in place, dragging his tongue in Sonar's direction. The young Shyguy knew that he wouldn't be able to run from it, so he jumped over the tongue as it passed underneath him. When he landed back on the ground, Sonar thought that he wouldn't have anything to worry about, but that feeling was quickly changed, as he saw Belome start turning in the other direction, again bringing his tongue towards the small Shyguy. Sonar jumped over the tongue again, and had to do it a third time as well.

"That's not fair!" Belome whined again. "You're making me mad!" He started moving his body back and forth in a weird motion. "Stick for a body! Head full of straw! Give me a scarecrow, rah, rah, rah!" He chanted.

Sonar's eyes snapped open behind his mask. He had heard what Belome could do when he chanted.

"S'Crow Funk!" Belome shouted as a gust of purple energy shot from his eyes.

Sonar quickly ran to the side and allowed the line of energy to pass beside him. He half-expected Belome to start following him, but that's not what happened. Instead, Belome stood in place, still shooting the beam of purple energy from his eyes.

The young Shyguy took the chance and ran at Belome while he was distracted. Pulling his right fist back, Sonar pun it around several times before throwing a hard right hook, knocking the wind out of Belome. **[HIT]**

"Gah!" Belome shouted as he desperately tried to keep from falling over. "Food shouldn't be allow to fight back!"

Belome spun in place, striking Sonar with his tongue. The small Shyguy was sent flying back several feet, where the battle had started.

Before attacking, Belome reared back and spat a huge blob of gooey substance at Sonar. While the young Shyguy avoided it, the blob started bouncing aimlessly around the arena.

"Snack attack!" Belome shouted as he shot his tongue out of his mouth. Sonar started running again, narrowly avoiding the tongue. The long red tongue shot back into Belome's mouth.

"Snack attack!" Belome repeated as he shot his tongue out a second time. Sonar quickly ran around Belome as the tongue reached its limit and snapped back into the mouth of the beast.

"I'll eat you for lunch!" Belome shouted as he stuck his tongue out and touched the ground with it.

As Sonar leapt over the tongue, he noticed that the gooey blob was still bouncing around. He quickly realized that he would need to avoid the blob as he ran around the arena. In the meantime, Sonar quickly realized that he tongue was getting close to him again. Sonar leapt over the tongue, followed by a third and forth time before Belome finally put the tongue back in his mouth.

Feeling frustrated, Belome did his scarecrow chant again. Sonar realized that this would be his next chance to attack.

Shaking his body around a couple of time, Belome shot the steady stream of purple energy from his eyes. Sonar quickly ran to the side and waited to make sure that Belome wouldn't start turning on him. When satisfied, Sonar rushed towards the strange creature and delivered another hard punch. **[HIT]**

"Ohhh...I don't feel so good..." Belome moaned as he spun around and knocked Sonar away with his tongue.

Rearing back again, Belome spat another blob of goo at Sonar. The small boy ran to the side, but like the first one, which was still bouncing around, it started bouncing aimlessly around the arena.

Sonar started sweating. Now he had two blobs to worry about.

"Snack attack!" Belome shouted as his tongue shot out at Sonar, who quickly ran away as the tongue snapped back.

"Snack attack!" The strange creature shouted again. Sonar was quickly noticing that the tongue was getting harder and harder to avoid. Luckily, Sonar avoided the tongue.

No sooner was the tongue back in his mouth when Belome shouted 'Snack attack!' again. The tongue shot out again, but Sonar avoided it like the first two times. Growling the frustration, Belome placed his tongue against the ground again and started turning in place. By now, Sonar was wondering why Belome hadn't moved from his perch since the fight started. Well, that was quickly the least of his worries, as he found that he had to jump over the tongue while maneuvering himself in midair to avoid one of the blobs of goo.

Sonar guessed that since he had already hit Belome twice, he would try to attack Sonar more times. He was right, as he had to jump over the tongue a total of seven times before the tongue retracted back into Belome's mouth.

Belome shouted out the scarecrow chant again. The purple beam of energy shot from Belome's eyes, but Sonar dove to the side again. As the beam of scarecrow powers struck the wall, Sonar ran to the side of Belome, wound up his arm and delivered the final blow. **[HIT]**

Belome slowly collapsed to the ground, but didn't move from the spot where he had been standing. "Beware...The...Flood..." He taunted before blacking out.

Sonar pulled his fist down and spun it around a couple of times before shoving it into the air, launching himself off the ground a couple of inches. "There's no way I'm gonna be anyone's lunch!"

**[END BATTLE. SONAR WINS]**

Everyone watched as Belome slowly vanished from sight, revealing that he was standing on a button, keeping it activated. When Belome vanished completely, the button deactivated and the huge gate on the other side of the room slowly started opening.

"'Beware the Flood'?" Melody asked. "What could he have meant by that?"

Before anyone had time to answer, everyone heard a strange sound coming from down the tunnel on the other side of the gate. They quickly saw a tidal wave of water come gushing down the tunnel, right in their direction.

"WATER!" Waluigi shouted. "QUICK! ACTIVATE THE BUTTON AGAIN!"

Alas, it was already too late. Before anyone could jump on the button to close the gate, the tidal wave shot at them, carrying everyone out of the sewers.

**(Midas River)**

The next thing everyone knew, they were thrown out of the sewers, right at the top of a huge waterfall. Everyone quickly started falling.

"Where the heck are we?" Waluigi shouted as the water carried everyone down the waterfall.

"Midas River!" Luigi replied.

"You call THIS a river?" Melody shouted.

"It starts at the falls and drops you into the river!" The green plumber replied. "After that, Rose Town is just around the corner!"

Goombaria quickly spotted several coins floating in the water, but somehow not getting carried down the falls. She quickly spotted a green coin among all of the yellow ones. "Ooooooo! Frog Coin!" She exclaimed as she started pedaling back up the waterfall to grab the coin. Once she did, she steered herself down towards a tunnel sticking out of the side of the waterfall. The small Goomba girl vanished into the tunnel.

"Well, THIS is a fine mess!" Fice T shouted as he held onto the Power Crystal with all of his strength.

"We could hit the bottom at any time!" Sonar added.

"Say..." Luigi looked around. "Where's Goombaria?" Everyone quickly looked around. Indeed, Goombaria was nowhere to be seen.

"WEEEEEEEE!"

The team looked in the direction of the voice and saw Goombaria fall out of a tunnel on the side of the waterfall, a stack of green Frog Coins balancing on her head. She fell onto a springboard at the bottom of the chute and bounced back into the waterfall.

"Where the heck were you?" Luigi shouted.

"Collecting Frog Coins!" Goombaria replied cheerfully. "See ya!" With that, she steered herself towards another tunnel and went in.

"Uh...Luigi?" Melody asked.

"Yeah, Melody?" Luigi asked.

"I think we're at the bottom!"

"How do you know?"

Melody didn't answer. She simply pointed down. Everyone quickly saw a river on the ground rapidly approaching.

"Awwwwww, CRAP!" Luigi shouted.

Everyone fell into the river, creating several loud splashes. When everyone poked their heads above the water, they saw the Goombaria was still missing. Everyone was quickly being carried down the river.

"Where the heck is she now?" Waluigi asked.

Waluigi's question was answered quickly, as a small Goomba girl landed on top of a nearby barrel, a bigger stack of Frog Coins on her head. "Hey, guys!" She said cheerily as she started walking on the barrel, moving it downstream with the team. "How's the water?"

**(Rose Town)**

Waluigi wrung the water out of his hat as he followed the team into Rose Town. Goombaria was still balancing the stack of Frog Coins on her head.

"So where's Koff E's house?" Melody asked.

"The back of the town." Luigi replied. "He's got the only house back there."

Everyone quickly rushed towards the back of town, hoping that they weren't too late. The team quickly arrived at the door to Koff E's place. Luigi quickly knocked on the door.

"No one home, there is!" A strange voice called from inside the house.

"Drat." Fice T said as he turned around. Waluigi slapped the back of the Mushroom guard's head.

"Can we come in?" Luigi asked.

"No one home, there is, I said!" The voice replied. "Away you must go, nya!"

"This is getting nowhere." Melody sighed. "Let's just go in."

Luigi nodded as he opened the door and rushed inside, the rest of the team following him.

Inside, the team saw a strange creature standing in the middle of the one- room house, holding a Power Crystal just out of Koff E's reach. The elderly mushroom was jumping up and down, trying to get the crystal back.

Bowyer quickly saw the team run into the house. "Believe me you did not! Nya!" He said. "Shocked I am!"

"Who the heck are you supposed to be?" Waluigi asked. "You speak Engrish almost as bad as that Fawful guy."

"Bowyer my name is!" Bowyer replied. "Part of the Smithy gang I was, until beaten I was by a fat plumber, dressed in red who was!"

"Smithy gang, eh?" Luigi asked. "Mario told me about them."

"Brother you are to the plumber that beat me?" Bowyer asked. "Perfect this is! Revenge I will get!"

Activating something on his watch, Bowyer made a white light appeared, blinding him and Luigi.

**(Nth Dimension)**

When Luigi opened his eyes, he saw that he was again in the Nth Dimension. Looking at the arena, he saw that the arena was mainly flat, except for our pillars at different heights. One pillar had an A on it, one had a B on it, and one had an X on it. Standing on the forth pillar, the tallest one, was Bowyer.

"Meet your doom you will! Nya, ha, ha!" Bowyer cackled. "My finest hour this will be! Nya!"

"You wish, buddy!" Luigi replied. "You're the only one left standing in my way from rescuing Daisy!"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: BOWYER – HEALTH: 3]**

"Take a look at this, you must!" Bowyer shouted as he shot both arms down, creating a force field of electricity, thus preventing Luigi from harming him.

"Man, not even my Green Missile will be able to get through that!" Luigi thought aloud. "I'll have to wait until he deactivates it.

"Static E!" Bowyer shouted, creating a whip of electricity in his hand. Lashing out his arm, the whip extended and tore across the arena, straight at Luigi. Doing his trademark jump, Luigi leapt over the beam of energy as it passed underneath him.

Luigi didn't get a chance to rest, as Bowyer was lashing out the energy whip again, this time vertically. Luigi ran to the side to avoid the whip. The plumber quickly saw Bowyer doing a diagonal attack with the whip. Leaning to the side, Luigi allowed to the whip to pass by him.

Bowyer growled. "Angry I am!" He shouted as the energy shield deactivated. He quickly grabbed hold of the string at his back and gave it a good pull. Once Bowyer let the string go, his nose, which turned out to be an arrow, shot out and landed on the pillar with the A on it. A new arrow appeared at his nose where the first one used to be.

"Ha! You missed and the shield is down!" Luigi shouted as he ran at Bowyer and leapt at him.

Or so he tried. Luigi found that his feet weren't allowing him to jump. "What the heck?" He asked.

"When a pillar I hit, that skill...LOCKED!" Bowyer laughed.

"Oh, crap." Luigi muttered. Apparently, this battle wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

Bowyer started shooting arrows into the air rapidly. Luigi quickly saw that every last one of the arrows coming down were falling all over the arena. Luigi had to run as fast as he could to avoid the many arrows, as he wasn't able to jump to avoid them. As soon as the arrow storm subsided, Bowyer sent another arrow flying, this time hitting the pillar with the B on it.

"Alright!" Luigi said. "I can jump now!" He leapt up at Bowyer. "Prepare to meet your-Huh?"

Indeed, Luigi could jump now, but in midair, he quickly found that he wasn't able to attack. He puled back in midair to prevent himself from running into Bowyer. Luigi fell to the ground as Bowyer started firing another arrow wave.

Luigi found this arrow wave easier to dodge, as he could jump now. The wave quickly subsided as Bowyer fired yet another arrow, this time finding its way to the X pillar.

"Okay. I can jump AND attack now." Luigi said. "Let's give it a try!"

Luigi leapt into the air and soared straight at Bowyer. Luigi delivered a swift karate chop to Bowyer's head, finally damaging him. **[HIT]**

"Ack!" Bowyer shouted as Luigi fell to the ground. "Hurt that did!"

Bowyer generated the electricity shield again, preventing damage from Luigi's attacks. "Static E!" He shouted again, generating the whip in his hand.

The strange creature lashed out him arm, sending the whip at Luigi. The green plumber quickly leapt over the whip. He expected Bowyer to attempt a vertical attack, but the creature instead did another horizontal strike. Luigi leapt over the whip again and watched the whip closely so he would know what to do in advance. Luigi ended up avoiding one vertical attack and two diagonal attacks before Bowyer put to whip away.

"Asking for it, you are, nya!" Bowyer shouted as the shield deactivated.

Luigi watched as Bowyer fired an arrow, striking the B pillar. Bowyer then started shooting arrows into the sky rapidly. Luigi managed to avoid them without a scratch, but only barely.

Bowyer shot another arrow, this time striking the A pillar. Luigi knew that he wouldn't be able to jump now, so he decided to start running. Bowyer then shot another arrow wave, sending them all over the arena. Like the first wave, Luigi avoided them all, but found it harder to do so since he couldn't jump.

"Annoying you are making this! Nya! Nya! Nya!" Bowyer shouted down at Luigi as he fired another arrow, striking the X pillar.

Before Bowyer had time to send another wave of arrows into the air, Luigi jumped at him and delivered another karate chop to the head. **[HIT]**

"Hurting me, you are! Nya!" Bowyer shouted as he regenerated the energy shield. "Liking this, I am not!"

Bowyer generated the whip again and lashed it out at Luigi horizontally. Luigi jumped over the first, ducked under the second and jumped over the third. Bowyer then tried a vertical attack. Luigi ran to the side, then spotted Bowyer attempting another vertical attack. Luigi kicked the ground with his heel, sending him flying backwards a couple of inches, which was just enough to avoid the whip. Bowyer then tried a diagonal attack. Leaning to the side and avoiding it, Luigi watched as Bowyer pulled the whip back and attempt another diagonal attack, this time going in the opposite direction. Luigi swerved to the other side and allowed the whip to pass by.

Bowyer growled in frustration as the shield deactivated. Bowyer fired another arrow, striking the B pillar. Bowyer then started shooting another wave of arrows at Luigi. Luigi easily avoided the arrows, sometimes having to jump and dodge in midair to avoid them.

"Making this easy for me, you are not! Nya!" Bowyer shouted as he fired another arrow, striking the A pillar. "Avoid this, you just try to!"

Bowyer then fired his biggest arrow wave yet, firing them faster than ever. Luigi found it extremely difficult to avoid the arrows, as he couldn't jump, but he barely managed to do so, although he was almost struck a couple of times.

In his rage, Bowyer didn't notice that he had fired another arrow, which struck the X pillar, giving Luigi full use of his jump and attacks again.

Taking his chance, Luigi leapt at Bowyer and delivered the final blow, another karate chop, to Bowyer's head. **[HIT]**

"Oy..." Bowyer moaned as he fell to the ground, drifting in unconsciousness. "...In pain, I am..."

Luigi folded his arms and looked down at his fallen opponent. "I must admit, you almost had me there." He complimented.

**[END BATTLE. LUIGI WINS]**

Before Luigi could search for the crystal, everything went white.

**(Rose Town)**

When Luigi could see again, he saw that he was back in Koff E's house, the rest of the team standing nearby. He was expecting Bowyer to be laying nearby, defeated, but the strange creature was no where to be seen.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Luigi asked.

"Oh, no!" Everyone heard Fice T cry.

Everyone looked at the Mushroom guard and saw him fishing through his pockets, searching for something. "The crystal! It's gone!" He shouted.

"WHAT?" Everyone shouted.

"Nya! Nya! Nya!" Bowyer's voice taunted.

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and saw the strange creature holding two crystals. "Check..." He said as his grin got inane. "...Mate."

Letting out an insane cackle, Bowyer glowed white and vanished completely, taking the two crystals with him.

"Oh, no!" Luigi shouted. "They've got all of the crystals! What next?"


	10. Showdown Part 1

**Chapter ten: Showdown part 1**

**(Unknown Location)**

Daisy sat alone in the room, silently hoping that Luigi would be able to pull this whole thing off. The mysterious leader behind her kidnapping had left the room for an unknown reason. Daisy felt that as long as Luigi's team had at least one of the crystals, she'd be alright.

Sadly, that wasn't possible.

The door to the room flew open, and the leader of the villains strode into the room. Daisy could see a sly smile on his face, even through the darkness.

"Why do you bother?" Daisy asked. "Luigi WILL save me and defeat you. You should know by now that you can't beat a Mario brother when the life of someone close to him is at stake."

The leader chuckled. "Then I guess I may just be the first one to beat a Mario brother." He leaned close to Daisy's face, a triumphant glare in his eyes. "Bowyer was successful is not only finding the final crystal, but also is stealing the one that green plumber's team already had."

Daisy gasped when she heard this. The leader untied her from the chair and she tried to run off, but the leader grabbed the princess' arm, stopping her escape. Using the rope that held Daisy to the chair, the leader bound her hands behind her back.

"Don't think I'm as weak as that failure Bowser." The leader said. "The reason Mario finally destroyed him was because he was weak."

"Why me?" Daisy asked as she watched the leader fetch some more rope. "Why, of all people, did you kidnap me?"

"You're more essential to this plan than you may think, my dear." The leader replied as he tied Daisy's feet together. "You'll soon see what I mean. Now that we have all seven Power Crystals, our plan can go without any mistakes."

"What is this plan?" Daisy asked. "What do you intend on do-" She didn't get a chance to answer, as the leader shoved a rag into her mouth and tied it around the back of her head.

"Sorry, but that's one question I cannot give you the answer for." The leader replied as he picked Daisy up and slung her over his shoulder.

As she was carried out of the room, Daisy could do nothing but hope that Luigi could save her before the plan came to be.

**(Rose Town)**

"Crap!" Luigi said as he yanked his hat off and threw it to the ground. "This isn't good!"

"Do you have any idea what that crystal was?" Koff E cried, starting to panic.

"Yes, we do." Melody replied. "A group of villains has been searching for the Power Crystals, and now, not only do they have all seven, but they've kidnapped the princess of Sarasaland as well."

Koff E leapt into the air, clearly freaking out. He then started running in squares, arms waving wildly.

Koff E started talking, but he was talking so fast that the team couldn't make a lot of it out. "This is terrible! Completely terrible! I thought we had banished him! He's the only one of us explorers still alive that became evil! Even during the exploration, he was becoming more and more violent, but we all ignored it! When we found the Power Crystal, he saw the power in them and greedily tried to keep it, but the rest of us wouldn't allow it and we destroyed it! Now that he has all seven pieces AND princess Daisy, he could do unthinkable evil to everyone in the kingdom!" He stopped running and looked at the team. "Do you all realize what evil this could bring?"

Feeling dizzy from the breathless rambling of the old mushroom, the entire team collapsed to the ground.

"Hey! I wasn't finished yet!" Koff E said as the team got up again.

"Where did you guys banish him?" Fice T asked. "Maybe he's still hiding there."

"There's a remote island in the middle of the ocean. It's a large island consisting of mainly a mountain, and there are a few smaller islands in the area." Koff E replied.

"Great." Waluigi sighed. "How are we supposed to get there?"

"Maybe Prof. Gadd has something." Goombaria suggested. "Who knows what's hanging around in that workshop of his."

"You may be onto something there, Goombaria." Luigi pointed out. "Okay. Let's go back to the mansion and see what the professor has."

**(Luigi's Mansion)**

"Ah, Monday. Where is thy sting?" E. Gadd said as he leaned against the front door.

Suddenly, the front door flew open, allowing the six members of the team to enter the mansion. Luigi shut the door behind him, revealing a squashed E. Gadd pressed against the wall.

"Ah! THERE it is!" The short professor said as he fell from the wall.

"Professor, this is no time to relax!" Luigi said. "The villains have Daisy, and we've found out that the person responsible is hiding out on a remote island in the middle of the ocean!"

"Ung." The professor said as he got to his feet. "So I take it that you need my help to use something that will take us there?"

"That's right." Goombaria replied.

"Well, you're all in luck!" E. Gadd stated. "Come. Follow me."

The team followed the vertically challenged man through the mansion, eventually going down into the basement. The team soon arrived at the door to E. Gadd's lab, and the old man placed his hand on the doorknob. Twisting the doorknob, E. Gadd pushed open the door and motioned for the rest of the team to go in.

After the team went in, everyone quickly realized that it was pitch black in the lab, and the professor had shut the door behind him.

"TURN THE DARN LIGHT ON!" Everyone shouted at E. Gadd.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there." Gadd assured as he found the light switch and flipped it, turning on the lights.

When the lights turned on, everyone's eyes had to adjust to the sudden brightness. However, once they got used to the light, their eyes all sprang open at what they saw in the middle of the lab. Sitting there was a huge, sleek, silver fighter jet. E. Gadd's insignia on each of the sides. The two wings were sticking straight out, allowing full maneuverability in a battle.

"How the HECK do you build things so fast?" Luigi asked, clearly knowing nothing of the jet until the current time. "We weren't gone THAT long!"

Gadd seemed to ignore Luigi's comment, as he walked over to the jet proudly, his hands behind his back. "Allow me to introduce my latest creation: The Gadd Jet!"

"'Gadd Jet'." Waluigi repeated. "The gadget?" That quick crack earned him a couple of chuckles.

"Watch it, purple man." Gadd said with s smirk. "This fighter is the most advanced fighter the Mushroom Kingdom has ever had."

"Professor, it's the ONLY jet fighter-" Luigi started.

"DON'T say it!" Gadd held a hand up, interrupting Luigi. "Anyway, this fighter will take us to the island we need to go to. If you'll all get into the jet, we can get the heck outta here."

"You can't be serious." Melody said. "Hello? We're in a closed-off room."

Gadd smirked. "Not for long." He assured as he whipped a remote out from inside his jacket and pressed a button.

The team watched in shock as the east wall of the lab folded up and retracted, creating a garage door. This provided a way out.

"Professor, you scare me sometimes." Luigi shook his head.

**(Unknown Location)**

"Are you all ready to take on that plumber when he shows up with the team?" The leader asked the rest of his minions as they all stood outside the hideout on the island, standing on the sandy beach. A bound Daisy was still slung over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, boss." Iggy smirked. "We can give you enough time."

"Yeah, boss-dude!" Ninjakoopa Red added. "We've got this ultra-gnarly strategy that is foolproof!"

The leader nodded. "Then I guess you're not letting Fawful lead, then?"

Mouser chuckled. "Nah. We haven't decided who's gonna lead, but when we do, we'll make sure that Luigi doesn't make it past us!"

"IMPOSSIBILITY!" Congo Quint shouted as he stood on a lookout point. "I never expected that they would arrive so fast!"

"Talking about what are you? Nya?" Bowyer asked.

"A fighter jet is approaching!" Quint replied as he looked through a pair of binoculars. He quickly jumped down to land on the sand. "It has the insignia of Professor E. Gadd on the side!"

The leader nodded as he looked at the rest of his team. "Get to your stations and prepare for battle!" He ordered.

"Yes, sir!" The minions replied in unison as they all scrambled up the mountain, leading to the hideout. Well, all of them except Iggy, who was running towards a tunnel in the sand that leaded to the smaller island not too far away.

"Where are you going, Iggy?" The leader demanded.

"To my battle station!" Iggy replied. "I'm gonna fight from the island over there!"

Suddenly catching what Iggy was saying, he nodded in approval as he turned around and climbed the mountain with his captive.

**(Island)**

"Well, here we are!" Gadd said as the engines of the fighter shut down and he left the pilot's seat.

Gadd had landed the ship on the other side of the island as where all of the minions were standing before. Everyone piled out of the fighter and stepped onto the sandy beach.

"Boy, whoever this leader is, he sure put his time on this island to good use." Goombaria observed as she looked at the two towers sticking out of the top of the mountain, showing that the leader had turned the mountain into a base.

"Well, now that we're here, let's storm that place and save Daisy!" Waluigi shouted.

"YEAH!" Everyone else except Gadd replied as they shoved their fists in the air (or in Goombaria's case, jumped into the air).

"You guys go." Gadd replied. "If you don't mind, I'll check out that island over there." He pointed off to an island sitting in the water a good ways away. "I think I saw something go in that direction before we landed."

"No problem, Professor." Luigi assured. "Okay! Let's do this!"

Gadd watched as the rest of the team ran off, towards a set of stairs built into the mountainside. As soon as they were out of sight, he turned back towards the fighter. "Okay. They're gone."

Three figures stepped out of the fighter and looked around.

"Now, I hope the three of you understand what you're supposed to do." The short professor said.

"Yeah." The first figure nodded. "We have to help that team defeat this bozo."

"Very good." Gadd replied. "Now, you'd better hurry along, but remember not to let yourselves be seen until you're needed."

Again, the three figures nodded as they turned around and followed Luigi's team. Once they were gone, Gadd jumped back into the fighter and took off.

**(Later…)**

The Gadd jet soared over the ocean, flying towards the smaller island off the coast of the main one. Once he got close enough, Gadd saw something moving on the peak of the mountaintop of the small island.

"Increase magnification." The professor ordered. A small screen appeared on the windshield of the fighter, showing Iggy Koopa standing on the mountain, clutching a huge beaker of formula in one of his hands.

"You good guys have thrown too many wrenches into the plan!" Iggy shouted at the oncoming fighter jet. "This is the end of the line!"

Ripping the lid off of the beaker, Iggy put it to his lips and started chugging it.

Inside the jet, Gadd's eyes sprang open, realizing what this meant. "NOT THE WHOLE THING!" He shouted.

Alas, it was too late. Iggy had downed every last drop of the formula. Standing in silence for a few seconds, Iggy suddenly grasped his stomach in pain as he started growing.

Gadd watched in shock at the scene that lay before him. Iggy's claws extended and became razor sharp, as were the spikes on his shell. Spikes sprouted from Iggy's tail as his set of teeth became long and sharp. Iggy's arms became layered with muscles, and his hair was growing longer and faster that ever thought possible.

Iggy was now more than five hundred feet tall, a mutated Koopa, standing on the top of the mountain. Iggy roared at the Gadd Jet as it flew at him.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: GARGANTUAN IGGY – HEALTH: 100%]**

Pulling a gigantic fist back, Iggy hurled a huge rock at the oncoming jet. Gadd barrel-rolled to the side, allowing the rock to fly past. The old man quickly jammed the fire button repeatedly, firing a round of plasma bolts into Iggy's left arm. **[96%]**

Although the attack damaged him, Iggy was unfazed. Pulling out a now-huge wand from around his back, Iggy concentrated, firing a huge and continuous beam of spiraling ring energy at E. Gadd. The old man skillfully maneuvered the jet around the beam, although he had to do it several times. Once the beam stopped, Gadd saw that he was getting pretty close to the island. He fired another round of energy bolts into Iggy's arm just before flying overhead. **[91%]**

After flying past the island, Gadd quickly did a U-Turn in midair, flying back at the island. However, once the island was back in sight, Gadd saw that Iggy was rising from the water's surface, climbing back up the mountain, a giant shark under his arm. Once he was at the top of the mountain, Iggy hurled the shark at the jet, letting out a loud roar.

Thinking quickly, Gadd pressed a green button on the dashboard, making the nose of the jet open. A giant boxing glove fired from the hole in the nose, striking the shark in midair. As the glove retracted back into the jet, the shark flew back at the giant Iggy, smacking him in the head before bouncing back into the water. Gadd used this opportunity while Iggy was stunned to fire a third round of shots into Iggy's stomach. **[88%]**

Letting out a loud growl, Iggy reached over and plunged his hand into the water, pulling out another big rock. As Iggy threw the rock, Gadd took quick action, destroying the rock and striking Iggy in the forehead four times. **[84%]**

Gadd flew closer to the island, not expecting what Iggy planned next. Pulling his arm into the air, Iggy slashed at the jet with his razor-sharp claws. Luckily, the good professor was quick enough to pull down and fly away from the island, but not before sending a few more bolts of energy into Iggy's giant tail on the way by.** [80%]**

Reaching behind his back, Iggy puled out his wand and started charging it up again. In the meantime, Gadd did another U-Turn and flew at the giant Koopa Kid again. Thrusting his wand out, Iggy fired another gigantic beam of swirling, ring energy at the Gadd Jet. Rolling from side to side, Gadd was successful in avoiding the energy, as only a few hits from the beam would be enough to down the jet. As soon as the energy stopped, Gadd rapidly shot several more energy bolts into Iggy's arm. **[76%]**

Deciding to try a new move, Iggy raised both arms high above his head. Swinging them both down, Iggy slammed the side of the mountain with all his newfound strength, sending a shockwave at the jet. Gadd pulled up and flew overtop of the shockwave as it passed underneath. Gadd quickly saw that Iggy had sent another shockwave at him, this one higher up. Pulling down this time, the old man was able to avoid it. Pulling up, Gadd rapidly shot some more energy bolts into Iggy's forehead before the giant Koopa had a chance to send out a third shockwave. **[73%]**

Roaring loudly, Iggy took another swipe at Gadd with his giant claws when the professor flew close enough. Luckily, Gadd managed to avoid the claws as he flew past the island again. Gadd flew further away before pulling another U-Turn. Flying back towards the island, Gadd saw Iggy climbing out of the water, clutching a shark. Once he got to the top of the mountain, Iggy threw the shark at the oncoming jet, not expecting the old man flying it to activate the giant glove again.

After the boxing glove struck it, the shark flew back at Iggy and clobbered him in the forehead. As Iggy recoiled slightly, Gadd fired another round of shots into the giant's forehead. **[69%]**

Iggy again pulled out his wand and charged it up. Gadd took evasive action early and it paid off, as the beam that fired from the wand missed the jet altogether. While the beam followed Gadd for a while, it eventually stopped, allowing the professor to fire several more energy bolts into Iggy's stomach. **[64%]**

The giant Koopa Kid roared in frustration as he brought his arms up and slammed them down again, striking the mountain. The result was another shockwave being sent in Gadd's direction. Gadd flew upwards, managing to avoid the shockwave. Gadd ducked below the next and prepared for the third one to be sent at him. However, the third shockwave was sent vertically, meaning that the professor would have to dodge to the side to avoid it. Gadd managed to do so, but wasn't expecting it, so it was just barely. Gadd quickly shot another round of bolts into the forehead of the giant kid. **[59%]**

Feeling even more frustrated than before, Iggy reared back and roared at the Gadd Jet, sending a powerful sound wave at the professor. Gadd was caught in the sound wave, and was pushed back a good ways away. The old man smirked, figuring that this worked to his advantage, as he could attack Iggy some more before going for another U-Turn.

Reaching into the water again, Iggy pulled out another boulder, stood back up and threw it at the sleek jet. Gadd rapidly fired at the boulder, disintegrating it and attacking Iggy some more. **[55%]**

Iggy pulled out his wand again and charged it up, determined to take Gadd down. Iggy fired the fully-charged beam of ring energy at the jet, hoping to take it down. Before the energy reached him, Gadd managed to fire a few shot down the middle of the beam, striking Iggy's hand. Gadd then rolled out of the way and continued avoiding the energy beam until the attack ended. The old men retaliated with several more energy bolts. **[48%]**

Gadd found himself flying close to the island, so he steered himself to fly away. Iggy saw this and swiped his long claws again, again missing Gadd. On his way by, Gadd fired some more shots into Iggy's tail. **[43%]**

The giant Koopa roared angrily as he dove into the ocean. As Gadd flew further away, he pulled another U-Turn and flew at the island again in time to watch Iggy rise from the water with another shark.

Reaching the top of the mountain, Iggy pulled the shark back ad threw it at Gadd. The elderly man jabbed the punch button, sending the boxing glove out of the nose again. The shark recoiled from the attack, sending it straight into Iggy's face. Gadd quickly fired some more shots into Iggy's forehead while the giant Koopa was still dizzy. **[39%]**

Rearing back, Iggy roared at the top of his lungs, sending the Gadd Jet flying back from the force of the sound wave. Iggy then reached into the ocean and pulled out another rock. Iggy threw the rock at Gadd with all of his might, but he wasn't expecting Gadd to shoot into it, destroying it. The old man sent some more shots into Iggy's arm. **[35%]**

Roaring furiously, Iggy pulled his wand out again, but rather than fire another beam of energy, he pulled it above his head. Gadd raised an eyebrow, wondering what Iggy was planning. He soon found out, as Iggy slammed the wand into the water, sending a huge tidal wave in Gadd's direction. His eyes wide, Gadd flew his ship around the giant wave, finding it harder to avoid than the shockwaves. Gadd decided to shoot some more shots into Iggy's stomach before the giant creature sent out another wave. **[30%]**

Iggy quickly got down on his hands and knees and reached into the ocean and pulled out another huge boulder. The giant Koopa Kid hurled the boulder at Gadd's fighter with amazing strength. Rather than destroy this one, Gadd swerved to the side to avoid the rock. The old man quickly shot some more energy bolts into Iggy's forehead. **[25%]**

Bringing his arms above his head, Iggy slammed his fists down onto the mountain. Hard. Hard enough to send four shockwaves at the Gadd Jet. The professor flew over the first shockwave, under the second, beside the third and finally under the forth. Gadd quickly flew past the island before Iggy had a chance to attack with his claws, firing some more shots into the Koopa Kid's tail. **[21%]**

Gadd flew off further and did another U-Turn, flying back at the island. Iggy climbed back onto the island again, this time clutching two sharks instead of one. Iggy threw both sharks at the jet, one after the other. Gadd activated the boxing glove again, nailing the first shark. Pressing the button again, the old professor fired the glove into the face of the second shark, sending both of them flying back into Iggy's face. The Gadd Jet fired some more shots into the Koopa Kid's forehead while he was stunned. **[17%]**

Realizing that he was near defeat, the gigantic Iggy went into a berserk rampage and slammed the mountainside several times, followed by two gigantic waves created from the wand splashing in the water. Gadd had to fly around at a rapid pace, but he managed to avoid everything. After the last attack, Iggy stood on the mountain, breathing heavily. Gadd took this chance and rapidly shot more bolts of energy into the giant's arm. **[13%]**

Iggy growled as he reached into the ocean and pulled out two huge boulders. Like the two sharks he had thrown before, Iggy threw the rocks one after the other at the jet. Gadd fired some shots into the first boulder, destroying it, but he didn't have enough time to destroy the second one, so he was forced to sway to the side to avoid it. The old man saw that Iggy was rearing back to prepare for another roar, so Gadd fired as many shots into Iggy's forehead as he could. **[7%]**

The giant Koopa let out an Earth-shaking roar, knocking Gadd away with the sound wave. Gadd fired a few more shots, damaging Iggy just before the Koopa could attack again **[3%]**

In a last ditch attempt, Iggy pulled out his wand and started charging it again. He fired a final beam of pulsating energy from the wand, but unfortunately for him, Gadd avoided it. Gadd fired the final few shots into Iggy's forehead, diminishing what HP the Koopa Kid had left. **[0%]**

Letting out a roar of pain, Iggy collapsed on the mountaintop as he started shrinking and turning back to normal.

"I sure hope that was enough time." Gadd said from inside the jet as he steered it back towards the main island.

**[END BATTLE. E. GADD WINS]**

**(Inside Castle)**

The rest of the team walked through the hallways of the hideout built into the cave, looking around carefully.

"Where do we go?" Melody asked. "They could be anywhere."

"Let's just stick together." Luigi replied. "I don't want anyone getting lost."

Eventually, everyone arrived at a large door. Luigi and Waluigi pushed on the two doors, opening them. Everyone slowly walked inside, Fice T constantly looking around while cautiously holding his spear.

However, once everyone was in the room, they all heard the door lock behind them. "What the?" Goombaria asked as Sonar and Fice T rushed over to the door.

Fice T pulled on the door's handle with all of his might, but it wouldn't budge. "It's locked!"

"Well, that just means that we've found our destination." Luigi said as he looked around the room. It was a tall, cylinder room with the ceiling just barely visible. There were ladders leading up five more floors, which had platforms sticking out from each of the floors.

"Well, I guess we need to go upwards." Goombaria suggested. "I'm gonna need someone to carry me, though."

Suddenly, a huge object fell from the ceiling and landed in the middle of the room, making the ground shake. On closer inspection, it was a huge, metal pod with a gun attached to it.

"Interception!" Congo Quint shouted in triumph from behind a glass window on the pod.

A second pod landed on top of Quint's pod, reaching the second floor. Instead of a gun, it had two long, metal arms attached to the sides.

"I HAVE REVENGENESS!" Fawful cackled from inside the pod.

Following Fawful were four more pods, each holding another of the villains. Mouser, the Koopa Bros., King Boo and Bowyer were all accounted for in the end.

"Try and defeat us now, little dude!" Ninjakoopa Red gloated from somewhere near the top of the stack of pods.

"Nya! Stall you, we must!" Bowyer laughed from the third pod up. "Or fail, our leader will!"

"I'll no longer lose to the likes of you, plunger-face!" King Boo shouted at Luigi.

Mouser, inside the top pod, laughed. "Ya really think you'll be able to beat us like THIS?"

Luigi ignored them. He simply turned towards the rest of the team. "We'll each take on a pod, meaning we'll have to go up the ladders." He instructed. "I'll take Mouser since he's in the top pod."

"I call Bowyer." Melody said.

"I'll take Quint." Sonar added.

"I'll take on the Fawful." Goombaria added.

"And I'll take on the Koopa Bros." Waluigi concluded, folding his arms.

Fice T's eyes snapped open. "I HAVE TO TAKE ON KING BOO?"

"No time to talk, Fice T!" Luigi said. "Sonar, you stay here! The rest of us will get to the higher floors!"

With that, everyone ran up the ladders, except Fice T, who had to be pushed up, leaving Sonar standing on the ground floor, cracking his knuckles as he looked at Congo Quint.

"Let's get ready to RUMBLE!" Sonar said as he charged at Quint.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: STACK OF VILLAINS – TOTAL HEALTH: 6]**

Sonar lunged at Quint and thrust his fist out, attempting to plow into the pod. However, Sonar's fist bounced off a thin layer of air two inches from the pod. Sonar reeled back.

"A force field!" Sonar said.

"Correctness!" Quint replied. "Now you shall feel the wrath of..." Inside the pod, Quint struck a strange pose. "Congo Quint! The most raring, daring Shyguy ever to grace the presence of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Sonar sweatdropped. "Yeah. Sure."

Quint quickly pressed a button inside the pod, causing a stream of bullets to fire from the machine gun on the bottom of the pod. Sonar leapt out of the way, allowing the bullets to strike the floor, where he had been standing. The machine gun followed Sonar as he ran, continuing to fire bullets at the young Shyguy's feet. Luckily, Sonar was as agile as he was strong, and managed to avoid the gunfire.

"_The only way I can get through that force field is to hit him with my most powerful punches."_ Sonar thought. _"If I have to do so, I'll need time to charges up my punch."_

As he ran, Sonar started spinning his fist, charging up the most powerful punch he had ever done. Luckily, the gunfire stopped suddenly, resulting in a pathetic clicking noise coming from the barrel of the gun.

"Stupidity!" Quint shouted in anger as he slammed his fists against the button that would activate the gun, with no luck.

Sonar took his chance and charged at the pod, thrusting his fist out at the same time. The young Shyguy flew through the air, a blue shield-like energy appearing over his fist. Sonar slammed his fist into Quint's pod, demolishing the force field and breaking through the glass window, striking Quint in the face. **[HIT]**

"...Painfulness..." Quint whimpered as he sunk to the floor of his pod.

Sonar quickly looked up at the floor above him. "I did it! That's one down!"

On the next floor up, Goombaria had heard Sonar's shout in victory. "Good job, Sonar!" She called out. "Maybe we can actually do this!"

"Your chances are that of a one-legged skunk on a freeway!" Fawful laughed. "We are of a rubber boomerang! We will have the power of victory, while you will have the agony that is of defeat!"

"Gimmie your best shot, Engrish-man!" Goombaria taunted.

"You are asking for the attack that is this!" Fawful shouted as he pressed a button, activating the two hands on his pod.

Goombaria watched as the two metal arms on the sides of the pod stretched out and pulled away from each other, preparing to squish the small Goomba girl in between them. Luckily, Goombaria saw this coming and leapt into the air, above the two hands. As Goombaria landed beside them, the two hands slapped together several times.

"You shall not be avoiding of this!" Fawful accused. "I am supposed to be killing of you!"

"You really think that I'm gonna let you kill me?" Goombaria asked. "You're stupider than you look!"

Fawful growled. "I HAVE FURY!" He screamed as he jammed the button as hard as he could.

The two hands pulled up and prepared for a big slap down. Goombaria dove out of the way and allowed the two hands to strike the ground. Goombaria then did a headbonk on one of the hands, causing it to malfunction. The hand pulled up and slapped Fawful's pod, breaking through the glass.

Goombaria smirked as she charged towards Fawful, dove into the pod and preformed another headbonk, finishing the job. **[HIT]**

"I...Will soon...Have the...Joy of...Revengness..." Fawful said as he collapsed.

Leaping out of the pod, Goombaria looked at the floor above her. "Fawful is out! We're one-third done!"

On the next floor up, Fice T stood trembling in front of the pod that held King Boo. He heard Goombaria's message and gulped. _"If I'm to prove myself, I have to overcome my fears and defeat him."_ He thought.

"This'll be over quickly! King Boo laughed. "They send the one that's scared of ghosts after me!"

Fice T struggled to stand straight and forget his fears. "I-I have to face my fears if I'm to help this rescue mission!" He replied.

"Then let's see how well you do that!" King Boo replied as he pressed a button on the inside of his pod.

Fice T watched as a blue shockwave shot from a slot at the bottom on the pod, firing straight at him. The Mushroom guard took quick action, leaping over the shockwave as it passed underneath him.

The terrified guard quickly saw another shockwave coming out of the pod, and leapt over that one as well. King Boo was clearly getting frustrated.

"Stand still, for cryin' out loud!" King Boo shouted as he jammed the button as hard as he could.

Fice T saw a huge shockwave fire from the bottom of the pod, soaring straight at him.

"_There's no way I'll be able to jump that!"_ Fice T thought as the shockwave came closer.

Realizing that he was the only one that could beat King Boo, Fice T thought and acted quickly. Running at the shockwave, Fice T plunged the end of his spear into the ground and leapt into the air, vaulting himself over the shockwave as it went underneath him.

Flying through the air, Fice T landed a hard kick to the window of King Boo's pod, breaking through. Although he couldn't hit King Boo, the evil ghost knew that he wouldn't have a chance now. **[HIT]**

"This can't be happening!" King Boo moaned as he sunk to the floor. "Defeated by a chicken..."

Fice T leapt out of the pod and looked up. "I did it! I actually defeated King Boo!" He called to the next floor up.

Melody, on the next floor up, heard Fice T. "Good job, Fice T!" She replied. "We're half done!"

"But win this, you will not!" Bowyer said confidently. "Victorious we shall be!"

Melody rolled up her sleeves. "Not likely! Get ready, because you're going down!"

Bowyer grinned insanely as he pressed a button, making a metal arm stick out of the pod, holding a cast iron pipe. "Do us a favour, you must!" Bowyer said. "Die, you must!"

The metal arm swung the pipe at Melody like a baseball bat. Melody ducked as the pipe soared over her head. Bowyer swung the pipe again, but Melody again dodged it.

"Ha! You call this an attack?" Melody asked. "King Boo put up a better fight than this!"

Suddenly, as if on cue, Bowyer swung the pipe at Melody's feet. Not expecting this, the former ghost tripped over the pipe and collapsed to the ground. Melody was about to get to her feet, but quickly felt the pipe press against the back of her neck.

"Lost you did." Bowyer taunted as he made the arm pull the pipe into the air and prepare to finish Melody off.

Melody closed her eyes and braced herself for impact, but never felt anything. Daring to open an eye, Melody looked over her shoulder and saw a scene that she hadn't been expecting: A large human man with short blonde hair and rippling muscles was holding the metal arm with both hands, preventing it from striking Melody.

Melody's eyes sprang open, instantly recognizing the red tank top and denim shorts on the man. "BIFF!" She cried in surprise.

Biff Atlas, now a human, looked over his shoulder at Melody and smirked. "Great to see you too, Mel." He said, purposefully using Melody's nickname.

"Nobody harms Miss Melody and gets away with it!" A new voice said from behind. "Nobody!"

Turning around as she got up, Melody thought she was seeing things. Standing in front of her was an older man in a black and white suit, his grayish hair slicked neatly cut. He held a torch in his hands.

"SHIVERS!" Melody cried in joy upon seeing the kind butler as a human again.

"Watch out, Miss Melody!" Shivers warned. Inhaling deeply, Shivers blew on the torch with all of his might, sending a wave of fire straight at Bowyer's pod. The fire continuously wore down the force field until it finally vanished.

Suddenly, a third figure leapt onto the scene, a pool cue in hand. He was dressed like a normal pool player, and had a strangely long nose. Lashing out the pool cue, the new figure destroyed the glass window.

"SLIM!" Melody finished. She couldn't believe it. Three of her relatives were human again!

"You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" Slim Bankshot shouted at Bowyer as he leapt aside. "Melody, quick! Deliver the final blow!"

Melody nodded as she pulled her hand back and started charging the Firebrand. Her three relatives stared in amazement as Melody hurled the fully charged fireball at Bowyer, striking him in the face. **[HIT]**

"Not fair, that was..." Bowyer said as he slumped to the ground. "Four...Against...One."

Melody quickly looked up at the next floor up. "We got him! Bowyer's out of it!" She called out.

Waluigi was on the next floor, doing battle with the Koopa Bros. in their crammed pod. Hearing Melody, Waluigi nodded, realizing that it was just him and Luigi left to win their respective battles.

"We're gonna send you straight into next week, dude!" Ninjakoopa Black shouted. "And maybe even the week after that!"

"You're gonna think twice about messing with us, man!" Ninjakoopa Green added.

"The other may have failed, but man, there's no way we're going to!" Ninjakoopa Yellow stated.

"Enough talking, dudes!" Ninjakoopa Red finished. "Let's thrash the bogus-looking elf!"

Waluigi's eye twitched. "'Elf'?" He asked aloud. "THAT DOES IT! YOU GUYS ARE GONNA GO DOWN HARD!"

The purple plumber threw himself at the pod, but stopped short when he saw the two electrical pillars on the side of the pod starting to glow. Waluigi backed off, preparing for anything. The two pillars shot two beams of electricity at Waluigi, one on either side. When they passed over the floor, the two beams joined together, creating a bar of lightning in between the two. The bar continued at Waluigi, but the tall plumber quickly jumped over it.

As soon as Waluigi jumped over the first one, another bar of lightning shot from the pod, but instead of going straight at Waluigi, this one came from the side. Although surprised, Waluigi jumped over that one as well.

A third bar fired from the pod, this one going at Waluigi from the opposite side as the second one. Waluigi quickly jumped over that one and charged at the pod, realizing that this would take forever unless he did something fast.

Engulfing his fist in dark flames, Waluigi did the ever-popular Flaming Uppercut, plowing through the force field and breaking the glass. Waluigi jumped into the pod and trounced all four of the Koopa Bros. **[HIT]**

"Impossible..." Ninjakoopa Red whined as he slowly blacked out. "We're...Unstoppable..."

After leaping out of the pod, Waluigi looked up. "Okay, pond scum! You're the last one left!"

Luigi, standing on the top floor while battling Mouser, wasn't exactly sure if Waluigi's insult was directed at him or the gangster mouse. He decided to ignore it.

"Ya actually think ya can beat me this time?" Mouser quizzed with a smirk.

"I beat you before, Mouser! I can do it again!" Luigi replied.

"Not likely!" Mouser replied. "My force field in unbreakable! Not even the explosions from my bombs can get through it!"

Luigi looked at the bottom of the pod. He saw a cannon spout, aimed into the air. Suddenly, one of Mouser's trademark bombs flew from the cannon and landed away from Luigi.

"Still as accurate as ever." Luigi muttered.

As Mouser continued to fire bombs, aimlessly, from the cannon, Luigi was thinking of a way to defeat him. _"What if what he said is true?"_ He thought to himself. _"What if I CAN'T break through that force field?"_ Suddenly, a light went on in his head. _"Of course! This'll be just like old times!"_

Mouser fired another bomb from the cannon, and Luigi ran after it. Once the bomb stopped rolling, Luigi picked it up and waited for it to start flashing. Once it did, Luigi ran towards the pod and leapt into the air.

Luigi threw the bomb back down the cannon with all of his might. Quickly looking into the pod, Luigi saw the bomb fly back into Mouser's hands.

"Ah, crap!" Mouser said quickly. As soon as he said that, the bomb went off in his face. **[HIT]**

"No...We've failed..." Mouser moaned as he slowly blacked out.

"You villains don't know when you've had enough, do you?" Luigi said as he folded his arms and looks down at Mouser.

**[END BATTLE. TEAM LUIGI WINS]**

Everyone stood in silence as the tower of pods suddenly rocketed into the sky, flying straight out of the island, flying in all directions.

"Now what?" Everyone heard Goombaria ask.

"We'll meet on the bottom floor." Luigi called down to everyone.

Luigi, being on the top floor, was the last one to reach the bottom. Once he did, he quickly saw that his team was now three people more.

The green-clad man quickly recognized the newcomers. "Biff, Slim and Shivers? What the heck are you guys doing here?" He asked.

"You guys took so long on your journey that Professor Gadd had enough time to bring the three of us back." Slim stated.

"Once he told us about everything that was going on, we felt the need to help out." Shivers added. "He got us onto the Gadd Jet without you guys noticing and we followed you in here."

"It was an offer we could hardly refuse, especially when we found out ol' Mel here was with you guys." Biff finished with a smirk, rubbing Melody on the head.

"Well, I'm glad that you guys are on our side." Luigi said. "But I'm afraid our mission isn't over yet."

The rest of the team quickly realized that Luigi was right. "Yikes! We've still gotta rescue Daisy!" Sonar said frantically.

"There's a door over there!" Fice T said, pointing to a door on the far wall. "Let's go!"

Before anyone could make a break for the door, Luigi stood in front of them. "Sorry, but I can't allow you guys to go with me." He said as he shook his head. "I appreciate everything you guys have done to help me, but I don't want to put anyone else in any more danger."

"We understand, Luigi." Melody said. "We'll get out of here while you go on and save Daisy."

"Not without me!" Waluigi said, approaching Luigi. "I'm going with you!" He quickly leaned over and whispered into Luigi's ear. "Don't think you're the only one that cares about Daisy." He whispered.

Luigi sighed, realizing that Waluigi wouldn't take no for an answer. "Okay. You and I will go in and save Daisy. The rest of you get out of here and find Professor Gadd."

Everyone agreed as they turned around and rushed out the door they came through. Once they were gone, Luigi and Waluigi turned around to face the other door. Wordlessly, they looked at each other, nodded once, looked back at the door and ran off, side by side, hoping to reach Daisy before anything happened.


	11. Showdown Part 2

**Chapter eleven: Showdown Part 2**

**(Castle)**

Luigi and Waluigi ran down the hallways of the mountain base, side by side. Although they weren't exactly best friends, to save Daisy, they would gladly put all differences aside, if only for a little while.

During the run, Luigi chuckled. "Hard to believe, eh?" He asked his rival. "Us, sworn rivals, joined together to save a princess."

Waluigi managed a smirk, although it looked like a grin because of his huge mouth. "I know. Imagine that." He quickly looked at Luigi, but neither stopped running. "Just remember that after this is over, we go back to hating each other."

Luigi nodded. "Of course. If either of our brothers found out that we helped each other, neither of us would hear the end of it."

The two plumbers ran for a good while, and without coming upon anything of interest. Eventually, they came upon a door at the end of the hallway. They tried looking through the window on it, but neither of them could see anything.

"Should we see what's inside?" Waluigi asked.

"Ah...What the heck." Luigi replied as he opened the door. "I'll use the Thunderhand to see. Stay behind me."

Luigi walked into the room, Waluigi following him. Inside the room, it was pitch black. Neither of the reluctant allies could see anything.

Lighting up his hand using the Thunderhand, Luigi was sable to find a light switch on the wall. The green plumber flipped the switch, making a light turn on in the direct center of the huge room. The spotlight on the floor was big enough to be a battle arena.

Luigi and Waluigi's eyes sprang open when they saw what the scene was before them. Daisy, bound and gagged, was trapped inside a glass diamond, which looked like it was hanging in midair.

"DAISY!" They both cried as they ran towards the brunette princess.

However, just before they could get to Daisy, a powerful blast shot from the shadows, sending them both to the ground. Quickly jumping to their feet, the two plumbers stared into the shadows, where the energy shot had come from.

"Whoever you are, come out!" Luigi shouted.

A deep voice chuckled. "Very well." With that, a lone figure stepped into the spotlight. Luigi and Waluigi couldn't tell what he looked like, as he was wearing a cloak with the hood pulled over his head.

Waluigi got straight to the point. "Are you the one behind this whole thing?" He asked.

Another deep, sinister chuckle came from underneath the hood. "I am."

"Well, we're here to stop you!" Luigi replied. "Release Daisy and hand over the Power Crystals and maybe we'll let you live."

The leader looked at Luigi and shook his head. "Not a chance, pal. Not after I've come this far."

"Who are you, anyway?" Waluigi asked.

The leader chuckled as he grasped his hood. "You two may not know me, but you might say that I know Mario."

Without another word, the leader threw the cloak off, tossing it outside of the spotlight. Luigi looked at the leader again. He was now a tall, purple alien with pointed ears and sharp fangs sticking out of his bottom lip. He wore a black suit.

Luigi's eyes snapped open. He had never seen this guy before, but Mario had told him what he looked like. "TATANGA!" He cried.

Tatanga raised an eyebrow. "So Mario HAS told you about me." He said. Pressing a button on his belt, the tall alien suddenly started hovering above the ground, his belt proving to be an anti-gravity device.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Luigi said as he looked up at Tatanga. "You're from space! Koff E told us that they banished you HERE, and that was BEFORE Mario defeated you!"

"I admit that I AM from space, but it is quite obvious that by the time Mario defeated me, I had been here for at least thirty years. I didn't waste my time while I was stranded on this island, either. I built this whole base and many computer-operated flying ships to pose as an invading army from space." Tatanga explained. "You two were extremely lucky to have made it this far, but here is where your luck ends! My henchmen, as stupid as they all may be, must have worn you both down by now."

Waluigi growled as he put his fists up. "No way! We're gonna pound you so bad that your bruises will have bruises!"

"For once, I agree with him!" Luigi added, copying his tall counterpart. "After everything we've gone through, we're not gonna let Daisy down now!"

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[MINI-BOSS: TATANGA – HEALTH: 3]**

As Tatanga floated around the room, he started generating balls of energy in both fists. Once he was fully charged up, Tatanga fired the energy shots at the ground, making the two plumbers bolt away from each other. The energy shot struck the ground harmlessly.

Waluigi started throwing fireballs at the purple alien, but nothing hit him. "He's flying to high!" He shouted in anger. "I can't hit him!" He turned towards Luigi. 'What about that Thunderhand you have?"

Luigi shook his head as he dodged another energy shot. "That only works at close range." He replied. "The way it stands, the only way we can hit him is if he flies lower or we can make ourselves jump higher."

"Great." Waluigi muttered. "I don't think he'll be coming closer to the ground, either."

Tatanga smirked evilly as he hovered over the two plumbers. Shoving out both hands, the evil alien fired rapid energy shots from both palms, each stream of shots directed at one of the two plumbers. Luigi and Waluigi quickly turned around and ran off, the shots striking the floor just behind them as they ran.

"Any suggestions?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah. Split up and hope he goes after you!" Waluigi said as he turned to the right and ran off.

Luigi sighed as he turned to the left as continued running. Both plumbers quickly saw that Tatanga had spread his arms, making each of the energy waves continue to follow a plumber.

"Come on! Stop already!" Waluigi shouted as he struggled to outrun the stream of energy shots striking the ground behind him.

Suddenly, his wish was granted. Tatanga stopped firing the shots from his hand as he slouched over in midair, clutching his heart. He breathed heavily.

"Hey! That attack took a lot of energy out of him!" Luigi said as he turned around. "Now's our chance to attack!"

"And how do you impose we do that, genius?" Waluigi asked.

Luigi didn't answer. He simply ran over to Tatanga and stood in front of him, facing Waluigi. He cupped his hands, providing a step. Waluigi suddenly, smirked, realizing what his counterpart was thinking of.

Without a word, Waluigi charged at Luigi, winding up for a Flaming Uppercut. The dark plumber stepped into Luigi's hand, and as soon as he did, the plan took action.

"Alley-Oop!" Luigi shouted as he threw his hands into the air, throwing Waluigi higher than either of them could jump.

On the way up, Waluigi's fist was engulfed in the familiar dark flames. Waluigi's fist made hard contact with Tatanga's face, making the alien spin off a few feet away. **[HIT]**

"A lucky shot." Tatanga said as he rubbed his jaw.

Luigi and Waluigi watched as Tatanga floated over to the middle of the arena, where he stay still. Suddenly, he rose into the air a couple more feet, his feet surging with electricity.

The green plumber instantly knew what was coming next. "Get ready to jump!" He told Waluigi, who nodded.

"TAKE THIS!" Tatanga shouted as he plunged feet first into the ground, creating a massive shockwave, which rocketed out in all directions.

Luigi and Waluigi leapt over the shockwave, and quickly saw another one coming, although not as powerful. The shockwave died down just before reaching the feet of the two plumbers.

Tatanga raised into the air again and started floating around. Pulling his fists back, the purple alien charged up another energy shot and fired it at the ground, hoping to strike the plumbers. Luigi and Waluigi dodged the attack, and Tatanga charged up another. The reluctant allies ran to the side and avoided the second shot.

The evil alien floated after the two plumbers, firing rapid energy shots from his hands. No mater where the plumbers ran, the energy shots followed. Luigi and Waluigi quickly saw that the energy shots were firing faster than before, but luckily, they were still able to outrun them.

Once the energy shots died down, Tatanga slumped forward in midair, exhausted of power.

"Okay, he's dropped his guard!" Luigi said as he ran closer to Tatanga as faced Waluigi.

"Get ready, shorty!" Waluigi shouted as he started running. "Cause here I come!"

Luigi cupped his hands and prepared for Waluigi to step in them. As soon as Waluigi's foot was in his hands, Luigi tossed him upwards, straight towards Tatanga. Waluigi performed a Flaming Uppercut, again striking Tatanga in the jaw. **[HIT]**

"I won't let my plan fail!" Tatanga said as he flew higher up. "Not after I've come this close!"

"Bring it on, buster!" Waluigi taunted.

Tatanga flew closer to Waluigi and pulled both fists back. The evil alien thrust both arms forward, in Waluigi's direction, firing a ball of dark purple energy, crackling with electricity. Waluigi saw this coming and dodged to the side, allowing the projectile to strike the floor. The tall plumber was expecting the ball to explode, but when it hit the ground, it instead burst into five smaller orbs, each of them homing in on either one of the two heroes.

The purple plumber found himself running from three of the orbs, which weren't showing any signs of dissipating anytime soon. He looked over his shoulder at Luigi, who was running from the other two orbs. "How do we get rid of these things?" He called out.

Thinking hard, Luigi decided to go with his instincts. Turning around and stopping, Luigi activated his Thunderhand and used it to generate a shield of lightning, allowing the two orbs to perish when they struck it. "Create a shield with your flames!" He replied to Waluigi.

Waluigi nodded as he spun a flaming fist in a circle in font of him, creating a temporary shield, which proved to be just as effective as Luigi's lightning shield. All three orbs struck the shield and died down quickly.

Tatanga, seeing that the two plumbers had avoided the attack, floated higher up, his feet pulsating with energy.

"He's gonna do the shockwave again!" Waluigi observed.

"Scatter!" Luigi ordered as he watched Tatanga come racing towards the floor like a torpedo.

The purple alien crashed into the ground, sending another shockwave out in the plumbers' directions. Luigi and Waluigi put all of their respective strength into their legs as they rocketed off the ground, leaping over the shockwave as it passed underneath.

On the way back down to the ground, Luigi saw that another shockwave was coming at the two of them again. As soon as he touched the ground, Luigi leapt into the air again, Waluigi copying him. When the two plumbers landed back on the ground, Tatanga rose back into the air again.

Tatanga pulled both arms back as Luigi and Waluigi ran around on the ground. The alien fired an energy shot at the ground near Luigi's feet, but luckily, the green-clad man dodged the attack. Waluigi had to do the same thing for the second energy shot.

The evil alien, becoming intensely frustrated, held both hands in front of his face and rapidly fired energy shots from both palms, making two trails tear up the ground, going in the plumbers' direction.

Luigi ran to the left, Waluigi ran to the right, each of the energy trails followed them. Both of them waited impatiently for Tatanga to tire out and stop attacking.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tatanga stopped shooting energy orbs and slouched over in midair, breathing heavily.

Luigi smirked slyly as he rushed over to the ground directly underneath Tatanga, faced Waluigi and cupped his hands. He nodded once to his purple rival.

Waluigi smirked and nodded in reply as he ran towards Luigi and placed his foot into his hands.

"Alley-Oop!" Luigi shouted as he threw his hands into the air, rocketing Waluigi into the air for the final time, as the purple plumber's flaming fist found its way to Tatanga's jaw for the third time. **[HIT]**

Tatanga remained silent as he slowly floated down to the ground, where he lay defeated.

Luigi and Waluigi gave each other their first high-five, thankful that neither of their brothers were around to see it. "Go back into space, ya dweeb!" Waluigi laughed.

**[END BATTLE. LUIGI AND WALUIGI WIN]**

Luigi brushed his hands together. "Well, that's that."

Waluigi rushed over to the diamond containing Daisy and looked around for a way to open the case up so the two plumbers could get Daisy out. Alas, Waluigi could find nothing. Daisy was trapped.

"We have to find a way to get Daisy out of there!" Luigi said as he joined Waluigi in searching for a way to open the diamond.

Luigi and Waluigi suddenly heard a chuckle coming from behind them, in Tatanga's direction. Both plumbers turned around to see the evil alien slowly getting to his feet, a triumphant smirk on his face.

"What are you so happy about?" Waluigi asked suspiciously as he and Luigi walked towards the alien.

"You really think my plan has failed?" Tatanga quizzed. "The plan was completed five minutes before you two arrived!"

Luigi angrily grabbed Tatanga's shirt as shook him. "Why Daisy? She has nothing to do with this!"

Tatanga chuckled. "That's what you may think, but do you really know the true story?" He pointed up at the diamond containing the terrified brunette, which was rising off the ground. "That gem on her dress is a shard of the original Power Crystal!"

"Well, that we gathered!" Waluigi shouted. "But why not just steal it from her? Why did you kidnap her?"

Tatanga grinned. "She's had that gem all of her life. After all those years of wearing it, Daisy actually absorbed most of the energy from the crystal." His grin got even bigger. "She's absorbed so much energy over the years that she's practically BECOME the Power Crystal!"

Luigi and Waluigi's eyes snapped open. "WHAT?" They looked up at Daisy and quickly saw her starting to glow inside the diamond. They then saw the other six shards of the crystal lined up, three on either side of the princess' diamond, start glowing, everything attached to what looked like a giant collar. Daisy was hanging directly in the middle.

Luigi spun around to face Tatanga. "What's this plan?" Luigi demanded.

Before he could get any answer out of Tatanga, he and Waluigi heard a loud, reptilian roar. Daring to look over their shoulders, the two plumbers saw an enormous Koopa lean into the light, so big that only his head and hands were able to come into the arena. The Koopa had glowing, yellow eyes, sharp teeth, razor sharp nails on his long fingers and fire red hair.

A light wen ton inside both plumbers' heads. Fire red hair?

"BOWSER!" They both cried.

Luigi and Waluigi quickly realized Tatanga's plan. His plan was to bring Bowser back as a gigantic form of Giga Bowser, under his control.

Tatnga laughed as he floated above the ground. "It's great, isn't it? The number one enemy of the Mushroom Kingdom, ready to fight again after being destroyed. Soon, the entire Kingdom will be in the palm of my hand!" He turned to look into Bowser's eyes. "Crush them!" He ordered as he floated high above the battlefield, clearly out of harm's way.

Bowser let out an Earth-shaking roar as he looked down at the two plumbers. Daisy, although muffled through the gag in her mouth and the diamond separating her from her heroes, screamed out to Luigi and Waluigi, wishing that she could do something to help.

**[BATTLE: START]**

**[BOSS: GIGA BOWSER – HEALTH: 3]**

Bowser pulled a giant fist into the air and brought it down, barely missing Waluigi. Once it was on the ground, Luigi jumped onto the hand and leapt at Bowser's face, preparing for an uppercut. However, instead of doing any damage, Luigi bounced off the Koopa King's face, landing on the cold, hard ground.

"What the heck?" Luigi thought aloud. "Our attacks don't damage him!"

"Hit him with all you've got!" Waluigi directed as he performed a Flaming Uppercut, faring just as bad as Luigi's attempt. "There's got to be a weakness!"

Bowser reared back and exhaled with all of his might, breathing a huge beam of fire at the two plumbers. Waving his head from side to side, Bowser maneuvered the flame around, covering more ground. Luigi and Waluigi had to leap over the flames to avoid them, but they managed to do so just barely.

Luigi ducked to the ground and aimed his head at Bowser's nose. Pulsating in a strange energy, Luigi performed a Green Missile, rocketing himself into the air, straight at Bowser's face. The green plumber slammed into the Koopa King's head, but it too proved ineffective.

Waluigi, on the other hand, decided to play it safe, and throw fireballs from a distance. They all struck Bowser in the face, but none of them damaged him in the slightest. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Waluigi quickly saw Bowser's left claw coming at him for a horizontal swipe. Using all of his leg power, the purple-clad man leapt into the air and over the claw as it went underneath.

The green plumber sighed as he delivered yet another futile Thunderhand attack in an attempt to hurt the mutated Koopa. "It's no use." He admitted. "If we can't damage him, he'll wear us down eventually and it'll be all over."

Meanwhile, inside the diamond hanging from Bowser's giant collar, Daisy suddenly heard what Luigi had said. She stopped panicking and started thinking. Luigi and Waluigi, as well as the rest of the team, had done so much to help her. She figured that there must be SOME way she could help the battle. The only problem was figuring out how before Luigi ad Waluigi ran out of strength.

A light suddenly went on inside the brunette's head. She had heard Tatanga reveal that she had absorbed a lot of the energy from the Power Crystal shard. Maybe she could weaken Bowser by using the energy she held.

Daisy silently closed her eyes and concentrated using all of her strength. She concentrated on using the crystals against Bowser in an attempt to weaken him. Suddenly, she felt herself become engulfed in electricity. It felt like she had fallen against an electric fence, and then some. Even through all of the pain, Daisy continued concentrating, determined to help Luigi and Waluigi.

Bowser pulled his fist into the air in an attempt to bring it down on the two plumbers when he suddenly felt a surge of pain flood through his body. Bowser's eyes snapped open as he recoiled and howled in pain.

Luigi and Waluigi saw Daisy inside the diamond, looking like she was in more pain than Bowser, but looked like she was concentrating hard. The two plumbers quickly realized what Daisy was doing.

"She's using the Power Crystals against him!" Waluigi observed in amazement.

"Come on! Let's attack him!" Luigi ordered. "Daisy trying to help us and I don't know how much more she can take!"

Waluigi nodded as the two of them rushed towards Bowser, pulling their fists down and, in perfect synchronization, landed a double hit to Bowser's jaw, although it only did the equal damage of one hit.** [HIT]**

Bowser roared in anger as the pain inside suddenly stopped. Daisy, inside the diamond, exhausted herself trying to weaken Bowser and had stopped concentrating for a little bit.

Waluigi quickly threw some more fireballs at Bowser's face, but none of them did any damage. "What's going on? We just damaged him!" He said.

"Daisy must've only temporary weakened him!" Luigi replied. "She's our ticket to winning this battle! We need to avoid Bowser's attacks long enough for Daisy to weaken him again!"

With that, Luigi looked up at Daisy. "Daisy! You need to weaken him some more!" He directed. "We'll avoid his attacks long enough for you to regain your strength!"

Although weak, Daisy nodded. She knew that she was the only way Luigi and Waluigi could damage Bowser, and she was determined to help them do so.

Bowser looked down at Luigi and Waluigi and growled. His yellow eyes suddenly started glowing. Although Waluigi was confused, Luigi quickly realized what was going to happen. Using his right hand, Luigi pushed Waluigi out of the way before running to the left. As soon as the two were out of harm's way, a beam of yellow energy fired from Bowser's eyes and struck the ground right where they had been standing.

Once the beam stopped, Bowser exhaled again, firing a wave of fire at the two plumbers, scattering the flames around the battlefield. While Luigi jumped over the flames, Waluigi decided to run from them. Either way, both methods worked and the fire subsided with neither of the plumbers getting burned.

Luigi landed on the ground just in time to see Bowser's huge claw coming at him. Flipping to the side, Luigi avoided the claw as it slid on the ground underneath him. Waluigi saw the same claw coming at leapt over it as well.

Inside the diamond, Daisy was still recovering from the damage she had dealt. She knew that she had to do it at least once more, and although she was in pain, she knew that she had to do it.

Even though she hadn't fully recovered, Daisy concentrated on the Power Crystals again. After focusing hard enough, she felt the searing pain of electricity flood her body. Although in terrible pain, Daisy continued concentrating. Bowser's eyes snapped open as he shrieked in pain.

"Come on! Before Daisy runs out of energy!" Lugii ordered as he ran at Bowser with Waluigi beside him.

The two plumbers leapt into the air and each performed an uppercut, striking Bowser in the face at the exact same time. **[HIT]**

Bowser roared furiously as Daisy suddenly stopped concentrating, exhausting herself again.

Pulling both arms into the air, Bowser slammed both fists into the ground, creating a small Earthquake, causing cracks to appear in the floor. Luigi and Waluigi weren't expecting this, so they became stunned. Bowser used this opportunity to swing his claw at the duo again. Luckily, the two plumbers snapped out of their daze to see it coming and they both jumped over it.

"That was almost TOO close." Luigi sighed in relief as he landed on the ground.

Bowser's eyes suddenly glowed again. Both plumbers knew what was going to happen next, and ran to the side, allowing the beam coming from Bowser's eyes to strike the ground harmlessly. Bowser continued with another wave of fire breath. Both plumbers avoided the flames easily.

The mutated Koopa King pulled his hands into the air again and balled them into one big fist. Slamming them down into the ground with amazing impact, Bowser made the cracks in the floor even bigger. Luckily, the two plumbers saw that attack coming and leapt into the air to avoid getting stunned by the quake's force.

Bowser took another swipe with his claws, aiming for both plumbers. Luigi backpedaled to avoid the claw, while Waluigi leapt over it.

"How much longer?" Waluigi asked Luigi.

"We have to wait for Daisy to recover!" Luigi replied. "If she uses to much power, she'll probably end up killing herself!"

Inside the diamond, Daisy had heard everything that the two had said. She knew that they were right in saying that if she used too much energy now, she'd be overwhelmed, but if she didn't do anything now, she had a feeling that Luigi and Waluigi wouldn't last much longer.

She narrowed her eyes, knowing what she had to do. Concentrating on the Power Crystals again, Daisy knew that she had to make this one count.

Suddenly, the brunette princess became overwhelmed in pain for the third time. Even still, she wouldn't let anything break her concentration.

For the third time, Bowser howled in pain, making his invincibility wear off.

"Let's finish him off!" Waluigi said.

"Way ahead of ya!" Luigi replied as he and Waluigi ran at Bowser and perform a synchronized uppercut to the evil Koopa's face. **[HIT]**

Bowser roared in pain as the diamond containing started glowing again, this time intensely. Luigi watched in horror as the glass diamond exploded, dropping the exhausted princess towards the ground.

"DAISY!" Luigi cried as he rushed underneath her and held his arms out, barely managing to catch her before she hit the ground. Daisy was unconscious before she even made it halfway to the ground.

"Let's get outta here!" Waluigi ordered when he saw light starting to emit from Bowser's eyes and nostrils, showing that it could result in an explosion that could rock the entire Mushroom Kingdom.

Luigi couldn't argue with his purple counterpart and the two of them rushed out of the lab, Daisy in Luigi's arms. Tatanga tried to escape through the door, but Waluigi was smart enough to lock the door behind him.

**[END BATTLE. LUIGI AND WALUIGI WIN]**

**(Gadd Jet)**

"Where the heck are they?" Goombaria asked as she and the others waited in the Gadd Jet for Luigi and Waluigi to emerge from the base.

"They must be getting close." Slim observed as he pointed out the top of the mountain was starting to crumble.

"Look! There they are!" Fice T shouted as he pointed towards the entrance to the base and saw Luigi and Waluigi making a mad dash down the stairs, a bound and unconscious princess in Luigi's arms. "They've found Daisy!" The guard shouted in glee.

The two plumbers quickly arrived at the jet and ran up the ramp that Prof. Gadd had deployed for them. As soon as they were inside, the professor retracted the ramp again.

"Get us out of here!" Waluigi told Prof. Gadd. "This island is gonna blow!"

Gadd nodded. "Hang on everyone!"

Activating the thrusters on the jet, Gadd performed a vertical takeoff as his creation zoomed off back towards the Mushroom Kingdom, just as a massive explosion went up on the island, obliterating Tatanga's base.


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**(Gadd Jet)**

Aside from Goombaria and Sonar staring out the window of the jet to admire the view, the flight back to the Mushroom Kingdom was pretty uneventful. Luigi and the others had untied Daisy long ago, and she was currently sitting next to her hero in green, wrapping a bandage around her arm.

Luigi smirked. "Well, that's that." He said proudly. "The shards of the Power Crystal have all been destroyed."

"Yeah." Daisy added, although sounding a little sad as she looked at the gem on her dress. "Except this one."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Luigi assured. "I won't let anything else happen to you, and I'm guessing that the rest of the team feels the same."

The others in the team, the first being Waluigi, agreed with Luigi. Daisy sighed. "But what about me?" She asked. "It's like Tatanga said. I've practically BECOME the Power Crystal."

"Tatanga didn't make it out." Waluigi smirked. "Don't worry. No one else knows about it."

Daisy managed a smirk. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, everyone." She said. "All this time I've been wishing for something exciting to happen to me, but after everything that's happened, I don't want anything to come up for at least a week."

"Not a problem, princess." Melody smiled. "We're all glad to help."

**(Luigi's Mansion)**

Eventually, the Gadd Jet arrived at the Mushroom Kingdom, at Luigi's Mansion. After everyone got off, Gadd flew the jet back around to the garage to park it.

"Well, thank you SO much for the adventure Luigi, but I'd better get back home. My family's probably missing me already." Goombaria said. "And now I have an amazing story to tell Goombario when he comes back!"

"Here, I'll walk you to the pipe leading to your house." Fice T offered. "I need to get back to my post anyway." He looked towards Luigi. "Thanks for bringing me along, Luigi. I think I'm feeling a little more confident now."

After bidding everyone farewell, Goombaria and Fice T walked off towards the Mushroom Kingdom. After they were gone, Luigi quickly saw Sonar starting to walk off with Melody and her relatives.

"Hey, where do you guys think you're going?" The green-clad man asked.

"To find another home, obviously." Sonar said as he turned around. "I won't be allowed back in the Shyguy Toybox, and Melody and the others don't have a place to live."

"We figure that we should be able to find an apartment somewhere in the kingdom and we'd all share a room." Melody added.

"Not if I can help it!" Luigi replied. "You guys deserve more than that! You guys aren't gonna live in an apartment. You're all gonna live in this mansion with the professor and I!"

Melody's eyes lit up. "You mean it? We can live here?"

Luigi nodded with a smile. "There's way more than enough room, considering the fact that it's just the professor and I living here."

"Thank you so much, sir!" Shivers said. He suddenly stood straight. "Or should I say 'Master Luigi'?"

"Luigi is fine, Shivers." Luigi replied. "I don't like being called 'master'."

Luigi suddenly felt a pair of arms get thrown around him from behind. "You're the best guy a girl could ask for, Luigi." Daisy said as she kissed him on the cheek.

Waluigi's face quickly fell when he saw this scene as his heart felt like it had been shattered. It was true. Daisy loved Luigi. People would think that Waluigi would throw a huge tantrum for seeing Daisy kiss Luigi, but the purple-clad man decided against it. Waluigi still cared for Daisy, and picking Luigi was her choice. Waluigi chose to respect that.

Luigi was so swarmed with friendly hugs and handshakes from his new housemates, he didn't notice Waluigi slowly slink away.

"Hey, Luigi?" Sonar asked the team leader. "Have you ever thought about what happened to those villains we defeated?"

**(Other Dimension)**

"Ung...Dude, where are we?" Ninjakoopa Black asked as he crawled out of the wrecked pod they had been in for the battle they had lost.

Ninjakoopa Red looked around. They were most certainly not in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore. They were in a very modern-looking city with buildings as high as the eye could see. People were walking around on the sidewalks as cars drove past on the road.

"How're we supposed to get back, dudes?" Ninjakoopa Yellow asked his brothers.

"Dude, look at those guys!"

At the sound of the new voice, the Koopa Bros. looked up and saw four figures falling from a rooftop. When the four new figures landed on the sidewalk, the Koopa Bros. saw that it was four large turtles, all of them wearing different coloured masks.

"You dudes going to a costume party on something?" The turtle in the blue mask asked.

"What?" Ninjakoopa Red asked. "No way! We're the Koopa Bros.!" All four of the Koopa Bros. quickly struck a strange-looking pose.

"They've copied our style, man!" The turtle in the purple mask pointed out.

"No way, dudes!" Ninjakoopa Green retaliated. "It's you guys that copied US!"

"We'll show you who the originals are!" The turtle in the orange mask shouted as he pulled out a pair on nunchucks. The turtle in the red mask pulled out a pair of sais, the one in blue pulled out a katana and the one in purple pulled out a bo.

"Right! US!" Ninjakoopa Red shouted as the Koopa Bros. pulled out their respective weapons as both teams rushed each other.

Nearby, a giant pig and rhino stood aside, watching the fight break out. The pig turned to the rhino and muttered "Am I seeing doubles or is it me?"

**(Dark Forest)**

King Boo growled as he floated away from his pod, towards an isolated location of Forever Forest that not a lot of people knew about. He had come so close to getting revenge, yet when it came down to it, that stupid guard that was actually AFRAID of ghosts was the one to defeat him!

"I guess I'll just have to think of some other way to get revenge." King Boo muttered as he floated towards a creepy, abandoned mansion. This mansion looked creepier than both Luigi's haunted mansion and Lady Bow's place put together. Even still, King Boo called it home.

Before entering the mansion through a window, King Boo looked back. "This isn't over, Luigi." He growled. "I'll get my revenge someday."

Without another word, King Boo flew into the mansion to plot his next attempt at revenge.

**(Land's End)**

Congo Quint grunted as he crawled out of his wrecked pod. Looking around, he saw that he was in the unfamiliar Land's End, underground. How he had gotten underground was beyond him, but that wasn't on his mind at the moment.

"Unbelievability!" Quint growled. "I am the unbeatable Congo Quint!" At the mention of his name, Quint struck a series of strange poses. "The most raring, daring Shyguy in the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Quint paced around, arms behind his back. "I must regain my title! But how?" He asked himself.

Suddenly hearing a noise behind him, Quint turned around. There, he saw a large group of Geckits slowly approaching him.

Quint stood in silence, thinking this over. Suddenly, he smiled behind his mask. To anyone else, even Mario, running through this many Geckits without a star would be suicide, but to Quint, it was a challenge.

Rolling up his imaginary sleeves, Quint threw himself at the group of Geckits, starting the biggest fistfight the Mushroom Kingdom had ever seen.

**(Desert)**

Fawful sat outside of his pod, which had just crash-landed in the middle of a desert.

The green creature sighed before he started singing. "Ninety-nine jars of syrup on the wall, ninety-nine jars of syrup..."

**(Koopa Village)**

Bowyer found himself a lot luckier than his comrades. Having crash landed in Koopa Village, Bowyer was amazed at how the villagers didn't run away, and instead welcomed the stranger. Although confused by this, Bowyer decided to go with it and live in the village. Currently, Bowyer was eating dinner with two Koopas that were among those that offered to help build Bowyer a house in the village.

The creature placed his fork on the table, finishing his meal. "Grateful for your hospitality I am, new friend." Bowyer thanked. "Any way is there for me to repay you?"

"Nonsense, old bean!" Kolorado laughed. "We of Koopa Village are always more than happy to welcome guests!"

Bowyer smirked. He knew that he was going to like it here.

**(Unknown Location)**

Mouser moaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He quickly knew that he was underground, as he couldn't see a thing. Wherever he looked, it was pitch black.

"Oy." Mouser said as he got to his feet. "Where the heck am I?"

Reaching into his pocket, Mouser pulled his bomb lighter out and activated it, creating a small flame and a few sparks.

Mouser's eyes snapped open. He was in a Bomb-Omb storage room filled with unactivated bombs, and one of the sparks from the lighter had accidentally lit one of the fuses, which in turn lit several more, and so on. Within second, every Bomb-Omb in the room was lit, ticking and about to explode.

The psychotic mouse's ears drooped. "Mother." He whimpered in a very Daffy Duck like voice.

**(Island Ruins)**

In the smoldering wreckage that used to be Tatanga's base, a figure lying on his stomach moaned as he slowly sat upright, rubbing his head. Clearly, it was Bowser, but at his normal size. The power from the explosion had erased all of the energy from the Power Crystals from Bowser's body, taking him out of his Giga form.

"Ooooooooh...My head." Bowser grunted. "Oy. What have I been doing?"

Suddenly, Bowser remembered. Although he was under Tatanga's control, he could still remember seeing himself fighting Luigi and Waluigi.

Bowser heard a noise coming from the side and looked in the direction of the door, which was blown off its hinges. He saw Tatanga slowly getting to his feet and growled.

"Try and take control of ME, will ya?" Bowser shouted at the alien as he stood up. The King of Koopas marched towards Tatanga, rolling up imaginary sleeves.

Tatanga quickly saw Bowser coming and started backing away. "Uh...Bowser. Heh heh. Buddy-boy! Pal! You know that I wouldn't do that!" He said with a pathetic attempt at a grin.

"Not working, buddy." Bowser growled.

Tatanga quickly reached for his belt to activate his anti-gravity defense, but before he could press the button, something fell on top of him, knocking him to the ground.

"Come on, dad!" Iggy said to Bowser. "I'll hold him down and you attack him!"

Bowser smirked at his son. "Thanks, Iggy."

"Gah!" Tatanga shouted at the Koopaling. "You traitor!"

"Traitor?" Bowser looked at Iggy. "You HELPED this guy?"

"Only until he brought you back, dad." Iggy replied. "Ludwig and the others didn't know what to do, and I was running out of options."

Bowser, for the first time in a long time, smiled at his son. "Iggy, I'm touched that you did what you did for me. Now let's take this twirp down together!"

"Yeah!"

If there was anyone else within a fifty kilometer radius of the island, they would've heard Tatanga's screams of pain.

**(Luigi's Mansion)**

Rain started falling over the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi had told Daisy that she could stay at the mansion for a while until it stopped raining. The two lovers sat in Luigi's living room with Melody, Sonar, Prof. Gadd, Biff, Slim and Shivers.

"You mean Melody actually battle King Boo?" Slim asked. "Man, I never knew she had it in her."

Melody blushed and smiled. "Thanks, Slim. I also did battle with a couple of Swedish Ninjis, but they were a lot easier than King Boo."

As the others talked, Luigi looked out the window. I hope the others made it home alright before the rain started.

**(Goomba Village)**

"I can't believe it!" Goombario said as he started at his little sister, wide-eyed. "You actually went on an adventure while I was gone?"

Goombaria nodded. "I fought a couple of battles as well, AND won!" She jumped up and down excitedly. "I actually helped save a princess! It's like a dream come true for me!"

"We're all so proud of you, sweetie." GoomMama said as she kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Yes. Why don't you tell us about it?" Goompa asked. The others agreed.

Goombaria smiled. "It's a long story. Would you still like to hear it?" The other family members urged her to go on. "Okay. It all started when we saw a freaky bomb-throwing thing stealing a crystal from the clock face in the kingdom..."

**(Dark Forest)**

Fice T trembled in the rain, but stood his ground. When was standing before him was his biggest nightmare, but he was determined to carry this plan out. Lightning struck the ground, a menacing clash of thunder quickly following it, but the Mushroom guard ignored it. In fact, Fice T thought that the thunder was motivating him to go through with this.

Despite what Fice T said at Luigi's mansion, he didn't go back to his post. Instead, he went straight into Forever Forest and took a hidden pathway that not a lot of people knew about. Fice T quickly reached his destination: A large, abandoned mansion with broken windows, missing boards, a vines growing all around it.

The mansion of King Boo.

Fice T silently reached into his pocket and pulled out a small picture. Looking at it, he saw a picture of himself with a gorgeous young mushroom woman, his wife. Locks of golden hair stuck out from under the white mushroom cap on her head. Scattered around the cap were several pink dots. Her red shirt and blue skirt fit her perfectly. Her beautiful eyes seemed to sparkle.

The mushroom guard sighed as a lone tear ran down his face. "It's been five months, April." He whispered. "For five months, you've been trapped inside this mansion, inside one of King Boo's paintings." Fice T placed the picture back and looked at the mansion, eyes narrowed. "Well, no longer. I've become braver now, and I'm going to get you out of there if it's the last thing I do."

Fice T ran at the mansion, spear ready to attack. "I'M COMING, HONEY!" He screamed as he flew into the mansion.

**(Golf Course)**

Even though it was raining out, the local golf course wasn't deserted. In fact, a lone figure was preparing to hit his golf ball off of the tee of one of the longer par 5's.

Waluigi sighed as he stopped himself from hitting the ball. "It's not fair." He said to himself. "Why him? I was just as much help on that mission as Luigi was. Why'd she pick him?" Again, Waluigi sighed. "She loves him, that's why."

In pure frustration, Waluigi pulled his club back and hit the ball as hard as he could. Waluigi's golf ball flew through the air, straight through the par 5 course and landed two feet away from the pin.

He purple-clad man sighed. "Why is it so hard for me to find someone?" He asked himself. "Mario has Peach, Luigi has Daisy and Wario is too absorbed in his money to see that that Mona girl has a crush on him."

"Um...Excuse me?"

Suddenly hearing the new voice, Waluigi turned around to see a young, human woman walking in his direction with her own set of golf clubs. She had short, beige hair, and wore a white shirt and a pair of blue denim shorts. On her head rested a blue crown. Her eyes sparkled, even in the rain.

"Hey, aren't you Princess Maple of Monstro Land?" Waluigi asked.

Maple nodded. "I am. I was about to start playing some golf when I saw you hit that ball." She smirked. "That was an amazing shot." She suddenly recognized the man she was talking to. "Oh, my!" She gasped. "Aren't you Waluigi? One of the Wario Bros.?"

Waluigi smirked. "That I am, princess. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I've been wanting to meet you for the longest time, Waluigi." Maple smiled. "Aren't you the one the landed a spot in the tennis tournament finals with Luigi a while back?"

The tall man nodded. "Yeah. And I would've won, but that green guy is apparently just as crafty as I am and sent the ball to the other side of the court."

"Yeah. You still put up a good fight, however." The princess suddenly brightened. "Say, if you want to continue talking, why not play golf together and see who wins?"

Waluigi's grin came back after he lost it when Daisy kissed Luigi. "You're on, princess!"

**(Later…)**

A couple days passed. Almost the entire population of the Mushroom Kingdom stood at the airport and watched as Princess Peach's plane came into view from over the horizon. After the plane landed, the front door opened as a set of stairs were rolled up to the door. The entire crowd went berserk when they saw Mario and Peach step out of the plane and start walking down the steps.

Mario held Peach's hand as the two of them walked down an open pathway, which went through the middle of the crowd. The red-clad plumber quickly spotted Luigi, a medal around his neck, with Daisy standing beside him. E. Gadd was also with them, as was a quartet of people Mario had never seen before, one of which also had a medal. He also spotted Goombario and his family close to the front of the pack. His eyebrow arched when he saw that Goombaria was wearing a medal around her neck.

Peach, on the other hand, spotted an unusual sighting. Waluigi, a medal around his neck, was standing beside Princess Maple, also cheering them on. Strangely, Wario was nowhere to be seen, although Waluigi was there. The blonde princess suddenly spotted Fice T, one of her guards, standing beside a beautiful mushroom woman who Peach hadn't seen before. Fice T also had a medal.

Peach's eye widened when she saw Bowser, whom she thought was dead, standing at the back of he crowd, waving at her. She sighed. This meant that come next week, Bowser would resume kidnapping her.

Eventually, after greeting almost all of the kingdom, Mario worked his way through the crowd and found Luigi talking with an older Koopa, who suddenly handed a Koopa baby to the green-clad man and bid farewell as he walked off.

Luigi, holding the Koopa infant, saw his older brother coming. "Heya, Mario!" He greeted. "How was the vacation?"

"Great." Mario replied with a smile. "Uh...What's with the kid?" He asked.

"Oh, Kappa?" Luigi asked as he looked at the small boy in his arms. "He's an orphan. I've decided to put my mansion to good use and start adopting some kids."

"Really?" Mario asked. "That's great!"

"And that's not all." Luigi said as he looked around. "I'm hoping to have a wife within the next little while."

Mario's eyes widened. "You mean you and Daisy are getting married?" He asked.

Luigi shushed his brother. "She doesn't know yet." He explained. "I got the ring yesterday and I'm gonna propose at dinner tonight."

Mario slapped his brother on the back. "That's my little brother! You're finally taking the big step!" he suddenly remembered why he was coming over in the first place. "Sorry to change the subject, but where'd you and a few others get the medals?"

Luigi smirked. "Oh, the bunch of us just stopped a crook from making of with a few crystals."

**END**


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